The Epoch of Belief
by Veritas5
Summary: Witness the journey of Tianna Sabbat from her upbringing as the spoiled daughter of an embassy official to the horror of Volterra and to a new life and love she never imagined existed. This story is not AU. It weaves in and out of the tale we all love.
1. Volterra

Disclaimer: Twilight and all of its character's are the sole property of Stephanie Meyer. No infringement is intended. She merely allows us to play in her world for a bit, for which I am grateful.

"_It was then that I first heard the babble of voices—loud, rough voices—coming from the antechamber…A large crowd was coming through the little door, filling the smaller stone chamber. Demetri motioned for us to make room. We pressed back against the cold wall to let them pass."_

_--New Moon, Page 482_

Volterra

When my high school friends convinced me to go on a spring break trip through Italy, as was all the rage these years amongst young people my age, I made them promise that it would be a history-free trip. No ruins. No cathedrals. And definitely no castles. I hadn't foreseen a problem, as neither Johanna nor Kelly were exactly history buffs.

This trip was to be full of club-hopping, lounging about on the Italian Riviera, and meeting dreamy European guys.

Which begs the question then, how exactly did we end up in what appeared to be an underground turret? I glanced over at Kelly, a tall, slender brunette with intense blue eyes. She had been my best friend since second grade. Seeing the scowl on my face, she just sighed and sent a look back that clearly said, _Just Deal With It, Tianna_.

I have no problem with history, but with four years of academia ahead of me as I head off to college, I had honestly hoped for a final Spring Break free of anything that took the concerted effort of more than a pair of neurons.

Looking over at Johanna, the third member of our trio, I saw she was at least pursuing goal #3: working the guy-front. Johanna was stockier than Kelly, not overweight, but very fit and muscular. She had long blond air that she kept in a tight braid that fell to the small of her back. She fit the softball-girl stereotype perfectly.

She was smiling and laughing at something that a tall, handsome boy was saying. I had to admit, Aaron was rather cute, and if it took taking a small break from the Milan nightlife to view the mysterious underground ruins of Volterra for her to get some quality time with him, I guess I could take one for the team. Besides, the day trip was free—the result of a random drawing of room numbers at our hotel in Milan.

I was snapped out of my reverie when we passed through a magnificent set of double doors. I glanced around to get my bearings. After entering at the base of a large clocktower on the ground level of Volterra, traveling down an elevator, and passing through a long, underground corridor for the past 15 minutes, we had entered a sort of antechamber. In front of us lay a circular room that appeared to be the top turret of an ancient castle, were it not 100 feet underground. Magnificent tapestries adorned the circular walls illuminated by a light from above, which I could not determine if it was natural or artificial. Three massive chairs were arranged at one end of the room. They almost appeared to be thrones to my eyes.

"How Medieval!" I heard one woman remark. I tended to agree. However, any further study of the chamber was stopped short by a movement in my peripheral vision.

We were no longer alone. A group of four was plastered against the wall to my left to make way for our 50-strong tour group. Three of them had strange cloaks that covered their faces, although I could see one was very tiny, not even five-feet tall while another was enormous. The fourth member was a girl, perhaps my age or a year or two younger, whose face was ashen as she looked at us, as if terrified. It was rather disturbing.

Our guide, Heidi, led us swiftly into the center of the room, towards a second, larger group of people who were quietly conversing. She began talking to a cloaked individual but I could not make much out of their conversation, other than that it involved some sort of fishing trip.

Looking at her again, I concluded for the nth time today that Heidi could stand to find a new profession. Our little tour had been much less a tour, and much more a guided rapid transit from Milan across the Italian peninsula to Volterra. Heidi was one of the strangest individuals that I had ever met. She was clearly not Italian, with her pale skin and deep red hair and I thus was unsure why she was leading a tour of Volterra. She was also drop-dead gorgeous, the kind of women who put people like me in my place. I'd always considered my softly tanned skin, courtesy of an Egyptian father and American mother, to accent my beauty, but against Heidi, I was just a street urchin. It was strange though. For someone as gorgeous as she, Heidi took much effort not to show any skin. She wore long, thick red tights and a tight-fitting vinyl top that left much to the imagination, but showed nothing. It must have been sweltering in the 80 degree heat on the surface in Volterra. Perhaps that was why she was in such a hurry to rush us into this underground castle, where the temperature was much more comfortable. Despite her considerable dress, Heidi was certainly no prude. She flirted openly with the male clients in our group, including Aaron, which undoubtedly irritated Johanna. I doubt any of the men even noticed the lack of factual information as they spent most of their time ogling Heidi's assets.

One who did notice that something was amiss was a short, middle-aged woman who looked vaguely Hispanic. She made no effort to communicate with the rest of our tour group on the ride from Milan (I'm not even sure if she spoke English) and was now lagging behind the rest of the group. Glancing over at her, I saw she was staring into the center of the spacious room with a look of terror on her face, clutching a large rosary in her fist and mumbling indistinctly. Her wide-eyes left me decidedly uneasy.

As we moved further into the room, the crowd of about ten spread out and moved to the periphery, giving way to our group. I turned to express my growing concern to Johanna, but couldn't find her as we had all suddenly become more tightly packed together. I could barely move my neck from side-to-side. It was almost as if we were being…herded.

Just as I was beginning to feel claustrophobic and was prepared to dig my elbow into the middle-aged man pressed closely behind me to get some breathing room, a ringing, melodic voice called out.

"Welcome, guests! Welcome to Volterra!"

The three cloaked figures that had been in deep conversation at the back of the room near the thrones had dispersed and now one of them with long, flowing black hair had addressed us. I did not know what to make of him. His skin, like Heidi's, was unnaturally pale, but while hers appeared marble-hard, his was paper-thin as if he had tried to cover his face with old parchment. Despite his frail appearance, he glided towards us with a strong posture that defied his fragility.

"My brothers and I are delighted that you have come to join us today!" he said, gesturing to two other individuals who looked just as pale and withered as he.

"I am called Aro, and this is Caius and Marcus." Both of them barely acknowledged us.

"And these are my dear ones, who all look so forward to meeting you." Aro continued placidly, motioning to the others in the room, who had now encircled us.

One of our company, a man of about thirty, who I recognized as having a wife and a young son in the tour, stepped forward and addressed Aro.

"Wh-what are we doing here? I don't recognize this place from the guidebook. What sort of tour is this?"

He was rather brave, in my mind. Despite Aro's frail appearance, there was something decidedly sinister about the man.

Aro looked up, and sighed happily, as if he had been waiting and was glad the question had been asked. He walked up to the man with a friendly smile, and held out his hand, which looked just as frail as his face. The man from our tour paused, but then shook it.

"Yes, Jonathan. This room is certainly not in your book." As he clasped the man's hand, Aro's eyes seemed to brighten from black to a dark maroon. "You and your friends have been selected for a most necessary and noble purpose: to sustain us. For you see, we are not inclined to hunt in our own city and dear Heidi does such a good job of bringing our prey here to us. For your sacrifice, we thank you."

I was too stunned by his last comments to even wonder how he knew the stranger's name.

Aro glanced towards our group seeking out a face, or faces, amongst the crowd. He hesitated, and a flash of what might have passed for regret crossed his papery face, before he turned back towards Jonathan.

"It is a pity about Claire and little Michael. You have my…condolences."

What came next will be forever burned into my memory. Aro, without further pause, gripped the wrists of the man named Jonathan and suddenly he was flying through the air. A split second passed before he collided with a loud crack against the stone wall. Aro was instantly airborne, flying towards Jonathan as if gravity had ceased to be. Before Jonathan had a chance to raise his head, Aro had landed beside him and wrapped his hands around the man's neck. Aro bent over as if to kiss his face, but suddenly bit down on Jonathan's neck. There was a spray of red as Jonathan shook and struggled against Aro's grip. His struggles became weaker as I realized, with horror, that Aro seemed to be drinking from the neck-wound. I felt bile rise in my throat and my vision became fuzzy.

My attention was drawn away from this sickening sight by the screams of a young woman who had detached herself from our group. She ran towards Aro and the dying man who could only be her husband, sobbing as tears flew behind her as she ran.

She didn't make it halfway across the room before one of those on the periphery had launched himself through the air and knocked her to the ground, still screaming. He was a massive individual with blonde air cropped short in a military-style haircut. He violently twisted her around and bit down on her neck and her screams were suddenly cut short as her entire left side was stained red.

The rest of our group, frozen momentarily as they stared in horror at these two brutal, lightning-quick murders, now flew in every direction as the fight-or-flight instinct kicked in.

I ran without thinking, without seeing. I ran until I realized my feet were no longer in contact with the ground. I was flying through the air, having been so panicked as not to have even felt the hit that sent me skyward. Although my unintentional acrobatics seemed to last an eternity, I could tell gravity had kicked in as the stone floor approached with sudden swiftness. Fortunately, I landed on my back, but the recoil from the collision caused my head to fling back against the ground. I saw stars for a moment.

When my vision cleared, I wished it hadn't. Standing above me with a decidedly predatory look in her eyes was Heidi. Despite her gleaming white teeth and terrifying smile, my gaze was immediately drawn to her eyes. I had noticed before that they had been an unnatural, violet color as if she was wearing a pair of those colored contacts that were all the rage a few years back. Although who would choose violet, I could not imagine. Her eyes were now the most intense red that I had ever seen. My mind immediately thought of the red-eye effect that you might see on poorly taken photographs. However, this was not a static color. The intensity and hue of her irises seemed to pulse about once every second as she stared down at me. It was almost as if they were matching the beat of my own heart. This was not a difficult comparison to make, as my heart was throbbing so loud it felt ready to break free from my rib cage.

Heidi continued to gaze into my eyes for another fraction of a second, as if she was relishing the terror that manifested itself on my face. Her pupils seemed to expand and her smile widened showing a full set of glistening white teeth that were so like tiny knives that their edges caught the light. Her neck bent down and I could feel her breath on my neck. I had seen how Jonathan and his wife Claire had been dispatched. I knew it was the end. I closed my eyes.

It is one of the greatest clichés of literature and film that says your life passes before your eyes right before you die, but it turns out Hollywood got something right after all.

*******

I was born Tianna Ariadne Sabbat on January 22, 1986 at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, DC. My father worked as an ambassador at the Egyptian Embassy in the heart of the city while my mother, an American, was the CEO of a Fortune 500 company in Baltimore.

I lived a charmed life. As a young girl and teenager, I received whatever my heart desired, the perks of a father with international connections and a mother at the top of the corporate food chain, both of whom were easily manipulated with a smile. A true power daughter. I traveled extensively with my family on business trips and vacations, and on my own—I spent my sophomore year in Egypt studying archaeology and the legends of the ancient pharaohs with a barmy professor from the University of Cairo, with whom I still kept in touch.

I never lacked friends. During my early youth, I met many who were happy to hang out with me, provided they could do it at my house or at an embassy function. As a young girl, this did not bother me. I was just happy to have friends and admirers.

As I grew older, I began to develop my personality. I discovered that I was blessed with a useful, if subtle, talent: I could turn my personality on and off at will. If I wanted people to notice me, a simple smile with the force of will and I was suddenly the center of attention. And I certainly enjoyed that position. Likewise, if I was feeling down and just wanted to be left alone, people seemed to pass by me as if I didn't exist.

As I matured, I became a very beautiful young woman, or so I've been told. My mixed heritage left me with skin that was not too dark, nor too light--almost a permanent tan. My hair was jet black and hung just below my shoulders in a graceful, wavy nature. My closet was larger than many of my classmate's bedrooms and was fully stocked with designer shoes, clothing, purses, and hats. I spent on a whim, with my dad's credit card of course, and was always up to date on the latest fashions.

I had no trouble with boys, of which there were many. I simply willed the ones in whom I was disinterested to leave me alone, and it was done. Those that I liked were naturally drawn to me. Nevertheless, by the spring semester of my senior year, I had not had a relationship that lasted more than three months. Yes, I might be able to draw men to me, but once we were dating, there was nothing holding us together and we seemed to drift apart just as quickly as we came together. This did not bother me, as I was convinced it was them, and not me.

I wasn't a terrific student, nor was I a poor student. I put forth enough effort to earn acceptable grades, while leaving plenty of time to go out with my friends. The nation's capital has far too much to offer—clubs, shopping, parties, anything that an 18 year-old girl could desire—to spend my time with only a textbook for company.

Nevertheless, it came as no surprise when just two months ago I received a letter accepting me to Harvard University. My parent's influence could work wonders, although I imagine the family coffers were now a bit lighter while the Harvard endowment was equally heavier.

This seeming injustice did not bother me at the time. That is just the way things were and I was thankful that I was born into the situation I was.

Now, however, on the brink of death, I reconsidered. What had I accomplished? Had I done anything in my life? What would my epitaph say_? "Here lies Tianna Sabbat, who lived on the largess of her parent's fame and fortune. She lived a comfortable and happy life, but did nothing of remembrance during her short stay on this earth. She will be mourned by family and friends alike, but will be swiftly forgotten by the world."_

****

I was rather surprised that my depressing self-reflection had continued so long. Where was the sharp pain at my neck? The fuzzy drift into unconsciousness at my blood was drained? I opened my eyes a millimeter and saw Heidi still crouched above me, eyes still pulsing red. However, rather than the gleaming smile, her focus seemed to waver as her eyes turned away from mine to a position off to my right.

Glancing to the same spot, I saw a pool of blood spreading out from an unattended prone figure lying about 10 feet away. I realized dimly that it was the short, Hispanic woman who had looked so frightened as we had entered the room. Her rosary lie shattered at her side, with the strung wooden pearls rolling across the sloped floor. She was still alive, however, as she raised herself up on her elbows with a groan. Heidi's attention wavered at the sight of the blood dripping from her abdomen. Suddenly, she flew off me, knocking the wind out of my gut. I heard her land softly a short distance away and could imagine the predatory look that poor woman was now receiving. I quickly turned away before I could see the end, but I still heard the garbled scream that was suddenly cut off.

Left momentarily unattended, I hesitated. From my past attempt, I knew blindly running was out of the question. I would be picked off immediately. I looked around. The nearest door was 50 feet away. There was no escape.

I wished I could just sink into the ground and become invisible, ignored by the monsters that were systematically slaughtering us. In my entire life, I had never wished for something with as much force as I wished to disappear from this human slaughterhouse. I felt my mind retreat into itself, almost as if I was leaving the physical world behind. I could still see, and hear, and feel, but I no longer felt attached to the place. I was a spectator to the massacre that was ongoing. My body was not truly there. I was clearly delusional.

My vision narrowed. I became blind to the screams and the bloodshed that surrounded me. I saw a wide column near the edge of the room supporting the ceiling above. My limbs began to move, as I half-ran, half-stumbled over to it. I was stunned that not one of those monsters had made a move for me. I crawled against the column and crouched, unmoving. It was silly, of course. Anybody with half of a good eye could see me, much less these super-freaks who could probably see through the walls themselves. But I stayed there, frozen, pretending with all of my might to be invisible. I just wanted to stay alive as long as possible.

And to my immense surprise, it seemed to be working. There were now more monsters than victims, yet none of them were coming after me. Instead, they were working together to bring down those remaining. I stifled a sob as I saw Kelly taken down from behind by two of them, as she was screaming and banging on the large double-doors we had entered scarcely 10 minutes earlier. I jerked my head to the side before I could see any more. I looked for Johanna, but did not see her until my gaze drifted to the floor and I glimpsed her unmistakable blonde braid and strong, athletic figure, lying at an unnatural angle in a small pool of blood.

I closed my eyes, begging to wake up from this nightmare. I do not know how long I lay there, but I was brought back by the sound of deafening silence. No more screams. I opened my eyes and saw the ten or so of them standing in the center of the room.

"Let us retire, dear ones," calmly sang the one called Aro. "Gianna will arrange things here."

The ten of them walked in formation towards a door at the back of the room, a mere yard from my column and hiding place. I irrationally studied their motion. While the movement was clearly organized and suggested military precision, they were not marching, so much as gliding, so graceful it was. It was a regimented glide, that's what it was. Despite the slaughter that had just taken place, not a hair on their heads was out of place, not a stain on their shirts nor on their faces.

As they approached my position, I had no idea what to do. If I stayed where I was, they were certain to see me. If I ran, not that I knew where to run to, I would be picked off just as easily. Fear made the decision for me. I was too terrified to move, and thus sat frozen, half-crouched beside the old marble column as they approached.

Miraculously, nobody turned their eyes to me. They marched, in their regimented formation, out the door, which slammed shut in the now-empty room. The lights shut off and the room was plunged into darkness. I shuddered when I realized that I was in the world's newest morgue, complete with the corpses of my two best friends. I stifled the gag reflex in my stomach and began to move about blindly around the perimeter of the room.

I vaguely recalled that the throne room had three doors, a massive set of double-doors that we had used to enter into the antechamber at the front of the room and two small doors off to the side of the thrones, one of which the group had just exited through. This meant that there had to be an exit somewhere opposite my current position. Rather than cutting through the massacre in the center of the room, I blindly hugged the wall going around the periphery.

After what seemed like ten minutes of wandering, my hands came in contact with what felt like large hinges jutting out from the wall. I fumbled further and yes! a handle. Throwing up a quick prayer, I turned the knob and the door creaked open. Faint light streamed in and I realized that I was in what appeared to be a sewer system. Rather than the typical dank and mildew, however, the pathway ahead was clean and dry, paved by ancient-looking stones. Spires of light, from what were probably holes in sewer caps, streamed down from above and provided sufficient light to illuminate the entire path. The tunnel continued on for an indeterminable distance and I could not see its end. As quietly as I could, I moved along the passage until I came to an old, but sturdy-looking ladder below one of the light sources. I scaled it quickly reaching a sewer cap. I tried to push it up, but either I was not strong enough or it had rusted shut after years of disuse.

I knew trying to jar it open it might call attention from whence I had just escaped, but I saw no choice. After all, they hadn't noticed me when they walked a foot from my face. Perhaps they would also not hear the racket I was about to make. I hoped against hope this would be the case. I climbed down until I found a pile of loose stones along the ancient pathway. I grabbed one shaped like a pointed lemon and carefully climbed the ladder again. I wrapped my legs around the rungs to hold myself in place and grasped the stone in both hands. I carefully lowered it to waist level and, cringing, brought it quickly upwards until it collided with a dull gong against the sewer cap. Nothing happened. Again and again I tried, with the same result, until on my fifth try, I felt it give and a cloud of rusty flakes blew into my eyes and nose. Coughing, I dropped the rock and pushed gingerly up against the circular iron lid. It lifted free. I raised it and my head above the level of the ground and looked out into the streets of Volterra. I hoped nobody would look down and see the grungy, wide-eyed girl standing there. No one did.

I had emerged just off of the main square of Volterra at the mouth of a small side-street. It was still daylight, and the celebrations of St. Marcus' Day were ongoing. The history of St. Marcus' Day had been one of the few factual pieces of information that Heidi had provided, although her delivery was oddly sarcastic.

The city was awash in men, women, and children in red cloaks. I froze. I had no idea if these people were normal human beings or were in league with those unnatural murderers beneath the earth. I almost jumped back down into the tunnel out of fear, but the overwhelming desire to escape this nightmarish city overrode my terror and I struggled to climb out of the sewer. Nobody took any notice of me as I carefully placed the iron lid back in place and stood up in the sunlight.

I looked about, unsure of what to do now. Vehicles were forbidden in the city today, as I had learned during our little hike earlier that day from the parking lot into heart of Volterra. I was now standing in the central square, the Plaza de Priori, across from a large clock-tower. I knew the city gates were about three blocks to my south, but I could not bring myself to walk through the red-enshrouded multitudes. As I gazed left and right, my peripheral vision caught sight of a yellow car parked in the shadows at the fore of an alley. _Were taxis allowed in the city? _I wondered. I hugged the walls of the building and made my way over.

No, it was not a taxi, but a bright yellow sports car: a Porsche, by the red, black, and gold logo inscribed on the front of its hood. I cautiously approached the empty vehicle. While I was chauffeured to school each day and was thus definitely not a car person, even I had heard of the 911 Turbo. _What sort of person would leave such a car unattended in a dark corner of the city? _I glanced into the open window and my breath caught in my throat. _And with the keys in the ignition?_

Numb from what I had just experienced and with adrenaline still running thick in my veins, I opened the driver's side door and jumped into the vehicle without another thought. I turned the keys and the car started. If the engine made a 300- horsepower growl that drove young boys crazy, I did not hear it. My attention was on the front gate to Volterra which I could now see about 200 feet straight ahead through the crowd. I tapped the gas and eased out carefully. Apparently the engine was rather loud because bystanders immediately jumped to the side and glared at me. As I crawled past, I look up at a man holding his son, who was probably about two. The boy turned to look at me, or more likely the car, and smiled. I saw with horror that he was wearing a set of plastic vampire teeth, which made sense because, as Heidi had said, St. Marcus was best known for vanquishing the vampires from Volterra.

As I continued my slow trek, the crowd began to thin and I was nearly to freedom until I saw a chubby guard with his back to me, busy blocking cars from entering the city. Hearing my engine from behind, he turned around and stared angrily at my slow approach. He started walking quickly towards me, before a second guard appeared and began rapidly conversing with him. The first guard shook his head but went back to his roadblock duty. The newcomer turned towards me with a small smile flashing across his face, touched his pocket, before waving me through the gate.

I was free. I sped down the large hill that stretched out before me. The feat of my own survival did not burn within me. I did not care that I was still breathing. I did not think about where I would go now. I did not consider the consequences of grand theft auto. I did not even think about what manner of creatures I had just escaped from. All that mattered was that I get as far from Volterra as I could, as fast as possible. Fortunately, I did not even have to hit the gas as my car slid down the steep hill upon which Volterra was perched at pace that I could barely control. I focused my eyes on the road straight ahead and away from the mirrors. I never wanted to see Volterra again in my life.

About 30 minutes later, I reached the bottom of the hill and the Porsche slowed down as the ground flattened out. I hit the gas to accelerate, only to hear a painful grinding as the car's internal workings protested. I tried again with a softer touch, only to hear the same tearing of metal. I looked at the fuel gage. Full. Oil. Full. Emergency break. Off. Only then did I see a third petal at my feet. A clutch. And a gearshift at my right hand.

Back home, I had never learned to drive any sort of vehicle, much less a manual sports car. But it couldn't be that difficult. For want of a better idea, I tried shifting gears and mashing the clutch. This time, the car rebelled and came to a screeching stop, jerking me forward against my seat belt. The car limped to the side of the road where I gave up and turned it off.

During my ride down from Volterra, the skies had darkened and it was just past dusk. The adrenaline had left my system, and I felt an extreme weariness overtake me. Involuntarily, my mind flashed back to the past two hours. Aro, welcoming us. Heidi, crouched above me, her eyes on my jugular. The Hispanic woman whose slow death had saved my life. Kelly, tackled from behind as she tried desperately to escape. Johanna, lying motionless in a pool of her own blood. The silence of the chamber, a crypt.

Of everybody who had entered that room, I was the only one still breathing. Inexplicable. Miraculous. But I felt no relief. I had never struggled with self-esteem in my life, and never before had I felt such humility as I felt now. I was certain I was the least deserving to survive--the spoiled brat with a rich father. Kelly was class president and Valedictorian. She was off to Yale on scholarship, an honor which she had earned herself after long hours spent in the library and in the chemistry lab. Johanna had been accepted to UCLA on a softball scholarship and had been considered one of the top prospects in the nation. Hours and hours she spent at the gym and on the practice field, while I, Tianna Sabbat, frittered away the time matching outfits and socializing at wine and cheese parties. And the others in our group--I had not made any effort to get to know them, but I'm sure even their most minor accomplishments outshone my greatest.

Suddenly, I couldn't bear to be trapped inside the car any longer. I wrenched my seat-belt off and threw open the door. The cool, evening air was refreshing, for a moment. My eyes were involuntarily drawn to the north. There, sitting peacefully on top of a rocky hill was Volterra. Despite my sickening aversion, I could not turn my eyes away. With the encroaching darkness, the city was now illuminated by large floodlights that highlighted the ancient city's greatest buildings—the church and the clock tower. I could still see red-cloaked revelers dancing in the streets celebrating a man named Marcus, although this was likely a figment of my imagination given the distance. From here, my first thought was that the city looked beautiful, lit up like a giant beacon against the surrounding countryside. The buildings seemed to glow in the light, as if the city was made of pure gold.

In that moment, I hated myself. For the first time all day, my emotions, which, with the help of adrenaline, I had stuffed into some deep recess of my viscera, came flooding to the surface and I brought my head into my hands.

I looked down and saw that they were stained bright red—either from my blind wanderings against the blood-stained walls in the darkened throne room or from having touched one of the many corpses that now littered that room. I gagged, but there was nothing in my stomach. Tears stung at my eyes as I knelt down and lay back against a tire. I began sobbing uncontrollably.

To be continued…


	2. Rome

Disclaimer: Twilight and all of its character's are the sole property of Stephanie Meyer. No infringement is intended. She merely allows us to play in her world for a bit, for which I am grateful.

Chapter 2: Rome

I fell asleep at some point, with my back up against the front tire of my stolen Porsche 911 Turbo. I dreamed.

I was back in the circular throne room of Volterra, gazing imperiously towards a group of terrified humans bunched together in the center of the room. I watched callously as Aro threw a young man into a wall before bleeding him dry. I watched as his wife Claire was dispatched just as efficiently as she ran to aid her husband. Rather than feeling disgust, or even fear, at these murders I instead felt a thrill surge through my body as I was compelled to join the slaughter. I was thirsty for blood.

My eyes scanned the room. My brethren were rapidly taking care of business, and I would have to hurry if I wished to feed today. A flash of gold raced past my eyes and I watched a young girl running for the door. I jumped. I was on her in an instant, with both of us landing hard on the floor. I barely felt the impact, but I heard a double crack as both of my victim's legs snapped.

I turned my head down, locating her carotid artery, the best place to strike. She looked up at me, blond hair splayed across the floor, wide-eyed with her mouth frozen in a small "0." I vaguely recognized her as Johanna, my best friend who I had known for more than half of my life. The burning in my throat demanded blood. Recognition warred with thirst as I bent my head down to deliver the final blow. I couldn't help but look into her eyes, which were brighter than I had ever seen them before. Her eyes had always been a pale shade of brown, a color she had complained looked like poop, but I, as her friend, had convinced her was more like hot chocolate. But they now blazed golden, burning with accusation, rage, and betrayal. I felt my gaze wavering, unable to handle the intensity of the light emanating from her pupils. It was bright. Too bright. I blinked.

****

I was jolted awake. My eyes snapped open, and promptly snapped shut again as I was blinded by headlights. I had no time to react. A fast approaching vehicle whooshed by me, not two feet from where I sat, taking the curves of the road at a reckless speed. It was a black car. Perhaps a Mercedes.

Idiots. How did the driver not see me lying there, beside a bright yellow Porsche?

I didn't have energy to feel angry, as the roar of the overworked engine vanished beyond the hill. I was too shaken by my nightmare to be concerned with yet another brush with death. If anything, I was thankful the speeding car had woken me when it did. I didn't want to go where that dream was heading. I had been one of them. I had been prepared to rip my best friend's throat out. I felt sick. I had to get ahold of myself.

I climbed gingerly to my feet, feeling my back crack in three places from the awkward position I had been laying in for the past—I glanced at my watch—three hours. It was nearly 9 pm.

Sitting back down in the driver's seat and slamming the door, I pondered my position. I had never been a logical, rational person. By nature, I was ruled by emotion—when I wanted to do something, I did it, consequences be damned. To this point, my life had been decided by whims and desires and feelings.

Ironically, I now looked the most overwhelmingly irrational episode of my short life using hard logic. Those 10 men--and women. I shuddered, remembering Heidi—killed 50 people inside of five minutes. Fact. Despite their numerical disadvantage, they used no weapons or any technology of any kind, but their unnatural, inhuman strength. Fact. I didn't know how much blood a human body contained, but those corpses were bled completely dry. Fact. Despite the blood letting and utter disregard for human life, those murders were not wanton acts of gratuitous violence. The victims were consumed entirely as the hunters were careful to lap up every drop of blood leaving behind pale, spent corpses.

I was clearly dealing with something supernatural here. I quickly ran through my limited compendium of man-eating humanoids. Zombies? No. I was pretty sure that zombies were only interested in brains. All of the victims still their skull caps intact, as far as I had noticed. Werewolves? I glanced out the window at the pale silver crescent hanging in the sky. No. No full moon. Vampires? Thirst for blood. Check. Pale appearance. Check. Super-human strength. Check. Drop-dead sexiness. In Heidi's case, check. Indoors during the day. Not check. Heidi had first led us into Volterra at high noon, yet had not been burned to a crisp. I remembered her extensive, tight-fitting wardrobe and wondered if there was more reason behind it than simply as eye-candy for the males in our tour. She had also been wearing a large-brimmed hat when we were outside. Perhaps if the sun did not strike the skin, vampires did not burn up.

This was ridiculous. Was it really possible that vampires were real, or was my overwhelmed consciousness searching for rationalizations that did not exist? On the other hand, there was nothing rational that could explain what I witnessed a few hours ago. Today was St. Marcus' Day, after all, a holiday celebrating the man who had, according to legend, driven the vampires from Italy more than a thousand years ago. Volterra and vampires were clearly linked, even if it was only in legends and mythology that gave drunken revelers the excuse to bare plastic fangs. Regardless, it seemed that Marcus' achievements had been greatly exaggerated or the vampires had returned to Volterra.

If Volterra was truly infested by a coven of vampires, I realized with a start, then they could now be out and about since the sun had set. Had they realized that they had come up one victim short? True, Heidi had never taken any sort of attendance in Milan, in such a hurry she was to get on the road. But what if one of them had taken a mental count as we were herded into the center of the room? Were they searching for me right now? I had to get out of this god-forsaken country. But here I was, stuck with a car that I was unable to drive. I was eighteen years old. Why had I not learned to drive a car like all of my friends? Had I really wanted to be chauffeured for the rest of my life?

I looked down at my feet. There were three petals there. I recognized the large, square one on my right as the break. The one just left of that must be the gas, and the smaller, leftmost petal had to be the clutch. My second boyfriend junior year drove a Mazda convertible given to him by his father that had a manual transmission. He had tried to teach me how to drive it one time. I had humored him for a few weeks, pretending to express interest, before breaking up with him out of boredom. While I usually ignored his ramblings about piston alignments, fuel-to-air ratios, and gear boxes and just oohed, aahed, and nodded in the right places, I did remember him telling me that the goal of driving a manual vehicle was to get from gear one to gear five, and that the clutch had to be pressed down during the actual shifting. Looking at the stick shift, I could see diagrammed on the handle five different gear positions, plus reverse.

I turned on the car, holding down both the break and the clutch pedal. I dragged the gear shift all the way to the left and up, to the position marked "1". So far so good. I let go of the clutch and then hit the gas. The engine revved angrily and the car lurched forward, before promptly stalling out. I tried again. And again. I just couldn't get the damn thing to stay in first gear. I banged angrily on the steering wheel. This was a half-million dollar car, god damnit! The more expensive the car, the easier it should be to drive! Hadn't I already suffered enough today? I escaped the blood-thirsty vampires (I had settled on that assumption, until I learned otherwise) only to be defeated by a car?

Back home, should a problem arise, I would have given up and called in the cavalry, which consisted of my parents, our housekeeper, or any of my "smart" friends. Stuck in the Italian countryside, possibly being hunted down by vampires, without a cellphone, the cavalry was out of the question. My escape lay in my own hands.

I tried again. Perhaps the car just wanted a more gentle touch. This time, as I slowly eased up on the clutch, I pressed lightly down on the gas. To my surprise, the car didn't stall out immediately. I cruised around a bend in the road, accelerating to perhaps 20 mph before the engine started to protest. I assumed I had to shift to a higher gear. I repeated the same procedure: holding down the clutch, shifting the gear right to "2" position, letting up on the clutch while pressing the gas. The car immediately shot forward. Reflexively, I slammed the break and I came to a quick stop. Wow.

I felt a surge of pride, until my mood was dampened back down as I remembered my circumstances. Nevertheless, I had done it. It was finally time to leave this wretched place. This introduced a second quandary.

I had been so focused on the ways and means of my escape, I had not considered the where. Returning to Milan was out of the question. Apparently, that city was a vampire feeding ground, seeing as Heidi had found us there. The absolute last thing I wanted to do was to run into her on the streets. And there was no way I could return to the hotel room that I, Johanna, and Kelly had shared. I wasn't ready for that.

I could immediately fly home. I had no idea what I would say to my parents, or the cops, who would certainly become involved when Kelly and Johanna were not with me. Obviously, telling the truth was out of the question. I would undoubtedly be deemed mentally insane. But I couldn't lie either. They were my best friends, and my last actions on their behalf would not be lies about how they had been kidnapped or swept out to sea. Still, the thought of home brought a sense of safety, a sense of conclusion in this whole affair.

But at the same time, I wanted answers, although I had no idea where they might be found. My usual sources of information—the internet and television—were not going to be of any assistance. Obviously, I couldn't go to the Italian police either.

As if in answer to my prayers, an idea formed in my mind. I had just talked to him a few months ago. Yes, he wouldn't judge me, nor think I had gone 'round the bend. He may even believe me and provide some valuable, if off-the-wall explanations.

I needed to get myself to a major city, with an international airport, so I could immediately board a plane for the US once I found out what was going on. I could try nearby Florence, but I feared the airport was too regional.

Rome it was then.

As I pulled out onto the country road leading away from Volterra, I carefully shifted up to gear three, which was a comfortable speed for me. I had been driving for less than five minutes when I saw a mile-marker, stating that "Roma" was 270 km away. It seemed that I would be driving through the night.

After 30 minutes, driving a stick shift had become nearly effortless. Following the road signs directing me to Rome, I had turned east and had merged onto a wider, straighter road, the E78 towards Siena. As I was now traveling at a consistent speed, there was little shifting to do, and driving became more tedious than challenging. At the same time, however, I appreciated the sense of freedom it gave me. I was in control; it was up to me where I drove, and if I made it there in one piece. I could understand why my friends back home had been so eager to get their licenses.

I passed through the outskirts of Siena. Its ancient, terracotta architecture was too close to that of Volterra for my tastes, and I was glad once I was back in the Tuscan countryside.

By 1 am, I reached the Autostrada Del Sole, or highway of the sun—Italy's Interstate 95 that traveled down the entire peninsula—and turned south towards Rome. It was a wide highway with five lanes, but at the very early hour, I had the road practically to myself. This was probably a good thing. After two hours behind the wheel, I didn't consider myself totally proficient at driving and was probably traveling at about half of the speed limit.

Last week, when we had first arrived in Rome after a nine hour flight from Dulles International Airport, our chauffeur service had taken the Autostrada up to Milan. At the time, we had a grand time, gazing at the snow-capped peaks of the Apennine Mountains and pointing excitedly at vineyards up on the mountain-side. It had seemed so exotic at the time. I noticed nothing now, keeping my eyes fixed on the dashed stripes of the pavement. Italy held no interest to me anymore.

My eyelids were feeling heavy, but I maintained my focus on the road as the hours ticked by. By 4 am, I had reached the outskirts of Rome. Exiting the Highway of the Sun, I merged onto the Circonvallazione Meriodonale—Rome's version of DC's Beltway—that would take me around the city rather than through it. Rome's International Airport, Leonardo de Vinci Airport, is not located within Rome itself, but rather to the west on the shores of the Mediterranean. The highway was already crowded by those heading into work early and I could see the sun peaking over the hills in my rearview mirror.

Minutes later, I was pulling up in front of Terminal C, which I knew to be the main international terminal.

I planned to simply abandon my Porsche parked curbside, illegally. I figured this way it would be quickly discovered and sooner returned to its owner. I felt a pang of sadness leaving the vehicle behind. It had served me well on my escape and midnight flight from Volterra. It was ironic that I first learned to drive in one of the highest performance sports cars out there, rather than in my mother's Volvo station wagon. I may have to acquire one legally, when I returned home.

I entered the busy airport and headed straight for the HSBC banking center located just inside the terminal. I needed some cash, and asked the teller to withdraw 1,000 Euros and 1,000 dollars from my personal account, something that my parents had set up in case of emergencies. This qualified. I gave my pin and password and the attendant quickly handed over the bills. When the name "Sabbat" was listed as the primary overseer of the account, no questions were asked.

I considered my options. I decided to make my phone call before I tried to purchase a ticket home. I went over to a vendor and bought a pre-paid cell phone that could make international calls. I pulled out my purse, the only item I had brought to Volterra yesterday morning, and rifled through my address book until I found the name I was looking for.

Sir Edwin Worthington. He was a British Egyptologist working in Thebes that had some rather interesting view on myth and legend, views that I hoped could provide an explanation of yesterday's horrific events. He had been knighted by the queen back in the 80s for a sarcophagus he had discovered and had given to the British Museum. While he occasionally lectured at Oxford University in London, he was in the field nearly year-round. I had spent the first semester of my sophomore year doing a research apprenticeship with Sir Edwin and his group, not out of interest in Egyptology, but as an opportunity spend some time in my dad's home country. Apparently, Sir Edwin's brother and my dad were good friends at the embassy.

Working in the middle of the desert among ancient ruins hundreds of miles from the vibrant cultural center of Cairo was not what I had expected, but I enjoyed Edwin's quirky personality. What made me think of him with regards to my current situation was a conversation we had one day discussing an Egyptian goddess…

****

_We were using coarse-haired toothbrushes and small metal picks to carefully remove millennia of stone, dust and mud from a stone slab. Having been at our task for the past four hours, I could now see that it was a bas relief of a figure with the face of an animal and a sphere floating above its head, from which a cobra was emerging. The figure was also holding a slender staff._

_It was about 110 degrees outside and I just wanted to finish so I could get back into the air-conditioning. Fortunately, Edwin seemed pleased with the current state of the ancient stone._

"_Ah, Sekhmet!" he exclaimed in his erudite British brogue. "See, you can tell by the lioness head and the solar disk above. The king cobra you see there is a Uraeus, signifying royalty and divinity. This is a great find, Tianna. I don't think I've seen such a complete sculpture of her before. You should be proud."_

_I smiled at him, even though I knew I had played little to no part at all in this "find."_

"_So who was Sekhmet?"_

"_The warrior goddess, the greatest huntress of Ancient Egypt! It is said her love of battle was so great that she drank the blood of her slain enemies. The first vampire!"_

"_Come on, Professor, you don't believe in vampires, do you?"_

_He looked at me, and I remember the far away look in his eyes._

"_History is not so black and white as to be divided cleanly into Life and Death. Egyptian myth is filled with rich accounts of the time spent between the two. I have explained to you the importance that the ancient Egyptians placed on burial rites. As you know, mummified bodies were placed in elaborate tombs complete with physical sustenance such as bread and fish and wine. This was done so as to discourage the spirit of the buried dead, the ka, from rejoining with the body and setting out in search of sustenance. It was believed that should this occur, the un-dead would prey upon the living like a spirit and drink their blood._

"_Sekhmet, on the other hand, was closer to our modern conception of a vampire. Taking physical form, she was unnaturally fast and strong, thrilled by the hunt as much as the reward it provided. It is believed that she was so strengthened by a diet of blood and became so dependent on it that she could no longer consume any other food."_

_I fought the urge to laugh out loud. "Okay, professor. If you say so."_

"_I can tell that you don't belief me, Tianna. At your age, I wouldn't expect you to. I am not saying that I believe in vampires, but when you have seen as much of the world, both ancient and modern, as I have, you may come to question your preconceived notions about mortality and immortality."_

_I scoffed. Professor Worthington had been living near Thebes for the past thirty years, traveling to London only once or twice a year to lecture at Oxford. The only parts of the world he had seen, besides England and Egypt, were the outlines of the countries on the large World Atlas that he kept on the desk in his study._

_Still, his tone had been slightly unnerving, as if he firmly believed every word he was saying, like he was explaining why the sky was blue to a five year-old. I thought nothing of it back then. I was busy mentally planning a day trip up the Nile to the boutiques and bazaars of Cairo that I hoped to make the following weekend._

****

Despite my general uselessness at the field camp, Edwin and I had gotten along well and he had encouraged me to stay in touch. I had done so only once, about four months ago. I had called him to brag about my acceptance into Harvard and asked if any of his buddies were professors in the archaeology department there. He, of course, was thrilled, and gave me a long list of old pals I should look up at the Peabody Museum on the Harvard Campus.

I dialed 20 for the Egyptian country code and then the number I had found in my purse.

"Worthington here." A strong British accent rang out across the line.

"Hi Prof—" My response came out as a grating cough. I realized I hadn't used my voice in about 18 hours, not since I had made some comment to Kelly about all of the red in the Plaza de Priori in Volterra. I tried again.

"Hi, professor. It's Tianna. Tianna Sabbat."

"Tianna! What a surprise! My phone tells me you're calling from Italy. Are you on holiday with your parents?"

"No, I'm on spring break with my friends, Kell—" I stopped, choking back a sob at my mistake.

I collected myself and spoke very rapidly before I broke down.

"I need to ask you something. We were in Milan, but took a day trip down to Volterra for St. Marcus' Day on a tour to see some ruins. I didn't want to go, but it was a way for Johanna to be with this guy we met named Aaron. So we went to see this buried castle and they took us into this room and locked us in there and…and…they're all dead! All of them! There were like 10 men and they were so strong and they—"

"Stop." Edwin's voice sounded cold and hard across the line.

"Don't say another word. They may be listening. I think I know what happened. How soon can you get to Cairo?"

I was confused.

"To Cairo? I'm not going to Cairo. I'm going home! I'm at the airport in Rome right now and am going to get on the next plane to DC and get out of this god forsaken country! I had just hoped you might have some answers about—"

"No. I really need you to come to Egypt. Please, Tianna. Trust me. Cairo is only a two hour flight from Rome. I'll clear everything with your parents. When do they expect you home?"

"Not for another six days, but—"

"Ok. I just checked. An Alitalia flight leaves Leonardo de Vinci Airpot at 6:35 am and lands at Cairo International at 9:01. That only gives you forty-five minutes. I will have somebody at the airport to pick you up and drive you to Thebes. There's not much time. Do you know how to travel standby?"

"Yes, but--"

"Tianna, if after you meet with me you think I wasted your time, I will have you on a plane first thing tomorrow morning bound for the States. I will even have the Department pay for it, as an apology."

"Fine. I'll do it."

"Okay, you better run and get checked-in then. You don't have very much time. I look forward to seeing you in a few hours. And I am very sorry about your friends."

"Goodbye, professor."

I had no idea what I was doing, but I decided to take his word for it. After all, I missed Egypt and would be happy to see the desert again. And to be honest, the last place I wanted to be right now was back home, when I really thought about it. If I was going to face the firing squad, I might as well have some answers first. Mind made up, I flew through security, having only a small purse. I was fortunate and the flight was under-booked. I was easily able to pay cash and get a standby ticket.

Twenty-minutes later, our Boeing 737 was airborne, pulling swiftly away from the Italian Peninsula over the deep blue waters of the Mediterranean. Despite having barely slept for 24 hours, I had never been able to sleep on airplanes and this was no exception. Instead, I passed the time by looking out the window. I could see the island of Sardinia off to the west, a large, craggy rock jutting out from the sea. As the plane turned to the south, it was open ocean again until we passed over the eastern tip of Sicily. Pilots tended to maintain a rather low altitude for these short flights and I was easily able to make out Mount Edna, still snowcapped after the long winter season.

After a half hour of the blue Mediterranean, we made landfall a second, and final time. Based on my knowledge of North African geography, I knew this to be the north shore of eastern Libya, which jutted out into the Mediterranean. Although this trip was far from a pleasure cruise, my spirits lifted upon seeing the wide expanse of the northern Sahara. I loved the diversity of the American landscape with its four seasons and bright colors, but there was something about the continuity and permanence of the desert that appealed to me. Washington, DC was my home, but I would always feel a connection with my father's homeland, despite this being just my second visit.

I was unsure when we crossed from Libya into Egypt, but I could feel the angle of the plane change as we began our descent into Cairo International Airport, which is located on the eastern side of the city. We passed low over the outer slums of Cairo and zoomed over the Nile at scarcely 1000 feet. I could see that the river was very low, as this was the beginning of the dry season. I could see the spires of the many minarets reflecting the early-morning sun, which gave the city its nickname, "the city of a thousand minarets." Looking further south, I caught a glimpse of Cairo's modern-day mosques: the skyscrapers that made Egypt one of Africa's biggest economies. Their shimmering glass facades stood in decided contrast to the traditional mud or brick mosques and the sandy expanse of desert.

Finally, we touched down gently and made a short taxi to Terminal 2, the international arrivals terminal. I quickly made my way through customs—the benefit of having dual citizenship. Contrary to popular belief, Egypt, or at least Cairo, is not a land of poor farmers carrying squawking chickens through the airport to the curb where they saddle up their donkeys or pack mules. Rather, Cairo is the most-populous city on the African continent and has surged ahead into the 21st century with the rest of the developed world.

The airport reflected this growth. Most of those walking through the terminal were crisply dressed businessmen, carrying laptops or briefcases, rushing off to a mid-morning meeting. Those sitting at the gates were either reading the Financial Times, paging through dossiers, or speaking rapidly in Arabic or English into Blue-Tooth headsets.

The long corridors were equipped with walking escalators, for which I was very thankful since I had been on my feet for over 24 hours now. Since I had no baggage to claim, I made my way out of Terminal 2 into the already balmy African morning. Unlike the hazy, sultry summers I was accustomed to endure in Washington, the Egyptian heat is a dry heat—you feel like you are in a blast furnace, but you don't get sweaty and disgusting.

Outside, parked prominently on the curb, were limousines, Mercedes-Benzes, and other chauffeuring vehicles. Tucked carefully at the back of the terminal were a line of shabby-looking taxis that did remind me of the romanticized conceptions of a more backwards Cairo.

I really wanted to avoid the taxis if possible. Edwin had promised me that somebody would be at the terminal to pick me up, although I was unsure who to look for. It certainly wouldn't be the Professor himself; he never left Thebes. I knew he had a few other students and researchers in his group, but I couldn't remember their faces. I looked around to see if anybody was holding up a placard with my name on it.

I felt a light touch on my shoulder.

"Ms. Sabbat?"

I spun around, and was immediately blinded. I had made a habit of only dating the most attractive guys from my high school and other social circles, and had never been caught speechless around a member of the male species before. Until now.

He was probably about my age, either eighteen or nineteen. He had a pale olive complexion, similar to my own, that indicated he either didn't get enough sun or one of his parents or relations was European or American. He had black hair cropped short an inch or so from his scalp, that complimented his tanned face marvelously. His skin was perfectly smooth and soft, and I briefly wondered if he was wearing makeup. It seemed to catch the sun in an odd way, almost as if the skin was glowing beneath the surface. The angles of his face were perfectly chiseled to give him a bone structure that many male models would kill for. However, compared to the haughty, superior demeanor that those characters often bore, this man had bright green eyes that seemed to dance as he looked down at me with a dazzling smile. He wore an old pair of jeans and a long-sleeved tan T-shirt that gave him a very relaxed appearance. In fact, everything about his character screamed "cool." He looked confident, without being arrogant, sexy, without being haughty, and casual, without being scruffy. He couldn't work for Edwin. I would have certainly remembered his face. Heck, I probably wouldn't have left Egypt in the first place if he had been around.

I had never been so flustered around a boy before. I tried to remember what he had said before my mind turned to mush, and vaguely recalled that he had merely inquired if I was "Ms. Sabbat."

"Ummm…call me Tianna."

He grinned, helping displace my uneasiness.

"Hi Tianna. Edwin Worthington sent me to take you down to Thebes. My name is Benjamin."

To be continued…


	3. Cairo

Disclaimer: Twilight and all of its character's are the sole property of Stephanie Meyer. No infringement is intended. She merely allows us to play in her world for a bit, for which I am grateful.

Chapter 3: Cairo

I continued to stare at him, overtaken by his absolute perfection. While such obvious ogling would make most others uneasy after the first few seconds, Benjamin continued to smile cheerfully and placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Tianna? I'm parked just outside the terminal. If you're ready, we can hit the road. I assume you have no other bags?" He spoke flawless, unaccented English.

"No, it's just me. I left Italy in a bit of a hurry."

Benjamin chuckled.

"I can imagine."

He turned and began walking up the causeway away from the terminal. I had to run to keep up. He seemed to glide along the curbside walkway effortlessly. I tried to think of something suave or witty to say, but my mind was blank. Well, this was highly out of character. Usually, the roles were reversed and boys were stumbling over their feet to impress me with their charm.

We walked past the executive vehicles along the curb and past the line of old taxis before Benjamin finally stopped in front of what at one time might have been a car. It had no hubcaps, the steel siding was hanging low only six inches off of the ground, and the exterior was pot-marked with dents and was nearly paint-free with only a smattering of white flakes scattered about the rusted shell. It looked like it had gotten into a fight with a monster truck, a sandblaster, and a meteor shower and had finished in fourth place. I realized with horror that Benjamin expected to drive this deathtrap.

Tongue-tied or not, I couldn't suppress my gut reaction.

"You're kidding." It came out as more of a statement than a question.

He saw me looking agape at the car and just laughed.

"Tianna, I'd like you to meet Jeeves. Jeeves, this is Tianna Sabbat."

"You named this clunker? And you talk to it?" I was losing more and more confidence with my plan every passing moment. Perhaps I would have been safer had I stayed in Italy.

"Silly Tia. This guy has got some surprises in him. We've had a long history together."

I shook my head, but said nothing more. I gingerly opened the passenger-side door and plopped myself in the ancient-looking seat. Dust flew up, making me cough. Benjamin quickly jumped in and started the engine which roared loudly to life.

I raised my eyebrows. The roar reminded me of the Porsche 911 I had owned for about six hours, not the choking gasps of a 20 year-old roadside relic.

Benjamin smirked. "What did I tell you?"

We were soon flying out of the airport through the early-morning traffic. Benjamin piloted Jeeves masterfully, weaving in and out of traffic at an impossible pace that defied what this ancient car looked capable of. Benjamin, however, looked utterly bored with his vehicular acrobatics and he glanced over at me and opened his mouth to start a conversation.

"Keep your eyes on the road, you maniac!" I shrieked. "What are you trying to do? Show off? Ok, I'm impressed. Now slow down."

Benjamin returned his eyes to his traffic-dodging, but was smiling confidently in a way that would really irritate me if it didn't look so endearing.

"Oh no, I have nothing to do with this. You see, Jeeves becomes rather cross when people question his road-worthiness and tends to behave a bit passive-aggressively. You might consider apologizing to him."

"Apologize to a car? Never!"

"Ah well, that's a pity. At least we'll get there quicker." He emphasized this point by mashing the gas pedal and we shot forward, nearly taking the bumper off a slow-moving Fiat.

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry, Jeeves. I apologize for my presumption! Now, please, let's get there alive, shall we?"

Thankfully, Benjamin had mercy on me and we slowed down to a more reasonable, but still border-line reckless speed.

"So seriously, how does this car handle so well? I mean, no offense, but Jeeves here doesn't look like he gets on the road very often."

Benjamin looked over at me and smiled conspiratively.

"Old Special Forces trick that I learned from my dad. Take a powerful sports car—in this case, a '92 Mercedes Benz—and strip it down to the chassis: just the framework, the engine, and the electrical. Then remove the outer shell of any of the clunkers you find abandoned around here and attach it to the frame. And voila, the perfect getaway vehicle that doesn't draw any attention, but is guaranteed to outrun anything chasing you."

He finished proudly, looking smugly in my direction.

"And what might be chasing you? I mean, you work for a 70-year-old archaeologist."

He waved his hand airily, as if it was of no consequence. I decided not to pursue the matter.

"So your dad is in the Special Forces?" I asked.

"Was, actually. Killed in action when I was nine."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

He shrugged. "You didn't know. It was a long time ago anyways. I barely remember him."

He stared straight ahead and didn't provide any more information. Benjamin didn't look to be out of his teens. It couldn't have been that long ago…

We drove in silence after that, heading west back towards the center of downtown Cairo where I imagined that we would merge onto some sort of interstate highway that would take us south towards the field camp at Thebes.

We hadn't traveled more than five minutes when he glanced over at me.

"So my mom lives here in Cairo and I haven't been up north in a few months to see her. Would you mind if we stop by for a bite to eat at her place? I imagine you haven't had a solid meal since yesterday."

I hesitated. I really did want to meet with the professor as soon as possible, but Benjamin had driven several hundred miles to pick me up and it would be rather rude to decline. It would also let me spend more time with him, I thought, blushing. It was an unfortunate facet of my personality that I usually found myself disinterested in the lives of others and preferred to talk about myself. But I found myself strangely curious about Benjamin and wanted to learn more about him. And since I found myself atypically tongue-tied, perhaps a casual spot of food would help me loosen up. Besides, I was famished.

"Okay. That actually sounds lovely. Where does she live?"

"On the west side of the city, near the Mohandiseen District. She lives alone, has for years. I usually try to make it up to Cairo once or twice a month to keep her company."

"She must get lonely."

"She has a lot of friends in the neighborhood. She's lived in the same house for some years now."

I nodded, not knowing what else to say. We merged onto Al Modaraat Road and entered the congestion that was downtown Cairo. Looking out my window to the north, I could see we were passing just south of the main business district. While it did not display the same clean, metropolitan façade as Washington or New York, there was no denying the economic progress that had overtaken the city in recent years. Skyscrapers hundreds of feet hall had replaced shabby single-story storefronts and paved, open-air plazas had supplanted the dusty bazaars that had once been a staple of the city. We continued west past downtown Cairo and crossed the Nile River at the Elgeza Bridge and turned off onto a side-street.

I could immediately distinguish the abrupt change in the cityscape. Gone were the glass office buildings and skyscrapers and the modern concrete apartment complexes. Gone was the 21st century all together. The streets were lined with ancient, crude apartments made of crumbling adobe, wood, or cement. The narrow road on which we were driving was crisscrossed overhead by low-hanging power lines that merged together by the hundreds at rusted transformers that I imagined was a power surge just waiting to happen. I could see additional cables coming out of second and third story windows and being clamped directly onto the power lines with what looked like twisted coat-hangers. I shuddered at the thousands of zoning violations I was witnessing. Narrow alleyways no more than five feet wide branched out every fifty feet along the road leading to even more shoddy structures. Piles of trash, rotting carcasses of recently slaughtered livestock, charred wooden planks, rusted corrugated steal siding, and abandoned car parts were piled in heaps at intervals alongside the road. The street itself was cracked in places and so grime-covered that I could not tell if it was pavement, brick, or just packed earth on which we were driving.

I was stunned. During my time in Egypt two years ago, I had never before seen such a neighborhood. I had been shuttled from one hotel to another on the east side of the city before flying down to the relatively comfortable confines of the field camp in Thebes. This neighborhood was what I imagined Cairo to have looked like 50 or 100 years ago before the forces of economic progress took hold and transformed the country. Hearing my dad and his embassy cronies talk about the great prosperity of a "New Egypt," I had been under the impression that the entire country, save those living in the distant corners of the Sahara, was much like the prosperous downtown area of Cairo. I never imagined that people still lived like this. It was rather horrifying to behold.

Benjamin must have seen my look of disbelief.

"I've tried to convince her to move someplace more comfortable. I'm doing alright for myself and could easily afford to buy her a place east of town, but she is happy here and refuses to pick up and leave her friends. She says that the lack of luxuries has strengthened her relationships with her neighbors and she has pretty much sworn off modern amenities."

I nodded vaguely. It was obviously not a situation that I had ever found myself in. I liked to think that wealth and privilege bought the same things that Benjamin was discussing: camaraderie, unity, and interconnection. I had always felt that I could live a life that was both comfortable and happy, but I certainly could not see myself happy living in this place.

Benjamin slowed and parallel-parked between a beaten-up station wagon and a wooden cart that looked like it was pulled by horse or donkey. I could now see the rational behind Jeeves' ramshackle makeup. Any sort of sportscar would stick out like a 10,000 watt floodlight in a neighborhood like this.

I looked around and noticed that we were in front of a small cottage-sized house rather than an apartment complex. Benjamin spoke up.

"The house has been in my family for many years, since back when the entire area was just these mud-houses. Most of them have been leveled in the last 20 years to make way for the apartments. My mom refused to sell, which royally pissed off the developers."

I nodded and followed him up to the front door and knocked softly. We waited nearly a full minute before the door creaked slowly open.

I blinked and stared in shock. In front of us was a short, stooped woman who looked to be at least 70, if not 80 years old. She might have been beautiful in her youth, but the years had not been kind. Her olive face was drawn up in hundreds of wrinkles and her gray hair was thin and pulled up in a loose bun on top of her head. She held a cane and was bent over at nearly a right angle. Her skin was pulled taunt against her boney hands and looked paper-thin. She looked so frail that a gust of wind might blow her over. I looked over at Benjamin, stunned, doing some quick mental math in my head, but he ignored me.

"Mama!" He said delightedly, and kissed her quickly on the cheek.

Despite her apparent age, she did have a beautiful smile that lit up upon seeing her son. She began chattering happily back to him in rapid-fire Arabic that I could not follow, despite my general proficiency in the language. After a moment, he turned back to me.

"Tianna, this is my mother, Aida. Mom, this is Tianna, a friend of Edwin's from America."

She smiled kindly at me and spoke in fluent, but accented English. "It is a pleasure to meet you Tianna. You have such a beautiful name."

I figured I should put my best foot forward. Showing off a bit in front of Benjamin had its appeal as well.

"Shukran. Fursa sa'eeda aidan, Aida. Bayt'ee jameel." _Thank you. It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Aida. You have a beautiful house._

Aida and Benjamin looked at each other and began laughing.

"Ya'arif al-arabiya!" She tinkled delightedly. I was pleased to see that Benjamin was looking at me rather proudly, and I felt blood rushing to my cheeks.

"Come in, come in. You look famished." Aida turned and hobbled back into the house as Benjamin held open the door. I stared, very puzzled, as she slowly plodded deeper inside. Even if I guessed conservatively that she was only 70, that would mean she had given birth to Benjamin in her 50s, a biological impossibility. Perhaps living alone in this impoverished neighborhood had prematurely resulted in her wasted and decrepit appearance. How strange. I just shook my head and walked inside.

****

It was a lovely meal. Benjamin had steadfastly refused to let his mother cook, pulling out a chair in the small dining room and helping her sit down. I had offered to help with the meal, but he waved me off and I had sat down across from her at the table. He was a whirlwind in the kitchen, and I could scarcely see what he was cooking as he tended to a boiling pot of water, sliced bread, ground dried herbs, and tossed some greens.

Aida interrupted my study of her son's considerable culinary skills.

"So tell me, Tianna, how did you happen to arrive in Egypt? You are still in secondary school, yes?"

I paused, as I considered my response.

"It is my spring break, actually. I was in Italy and had a few extra days and decided to stop by and see Professor Worthington. I haven't seen him in over two years since I worked at his field camp."

"In Italy? Aren't you a bit young to be traveling alone?"

I froze and couldn't think of anything to say about my traveling companions, but fortunately Benjamin chose that moment to return carefully balancing two plates, two bowls, and two cups. That was quick.

"Lunch is served. Dig in!"

I shot him a grateful look and he smiled out of the corners of his mouth. It was a bit disconcerting how familiar he seemed to be with my…situation.

I looked down at the food Benjamin had prepared and recognized it as a simple, traditional Egyptian mid-day meal: an onion salad with fresh olives, baguettes, and a gold herbal tea. Nevertheless, my stomach growled impatiently. I noticed Benjamin hadn't prepared any for himself.

"Aren't you hungry?" I asked.

"I actually ate just before I picked you up so I'm still pretty full. Besides, I can't stand leafy greens and vegetables. I wouldn't last ten minutes as a vegetarian."

That seemed to amuse Aida as her soft laugh rang out in the small room.

"So, Tianna, do you travel to Egypt often?"

"No, just the once."

"But you speak Arabic very well."

"My father is Egyptian and works for the embassy in Washington. He required that I have a basic knowledge of the language if I wanted to attend any of the formals and functions with him, so I wouldn't make him look bad."

"Or perhaps he just wanted you to gain an appreciation of his culture."

"Perhaps. Your English is very good as well. How did you learn?"

"My English is terrible. Benjamin's, on the other hand, is flawless. I learned from him."

We continued prattering about nonsense topics as we finished eating while Benjamin took our dishes and began cleaning the kitchen. Aida spoke in very accented English, but she used proper grammar and possessed a considerable vocabulary for an old-woman living in the slums of Cairo. I was very impressed, given that she had learned only from talking with her son once or twice a month. I learned that she had raised Benjamin alone since his father had been killed. However, I gleaned from her stories that she had been just as reliant on him as he was on her.

And I could see it. He not only insisted on managing the household during our short visit, but obviously took pride in doing so. I witnessed the respect that he showed Aida, not because she demanded it, but because he clearly felt it was the right thing to do. I felt rather humbled observing such love and devotion, seeing as my primary interactions with my parents involved asking for money and complaining about all of the things they wouldn't let me do. I resolved to act like a better daughter when I returned home.

My train of thought was broken when Aida glanced at her watch and looked pointedly at Benjamin. "Dear, it's nearly two o'clock. Don't you think you should be on the road, if you hope to make it to Thebes before dark?"

Benjamin shrugged casually. "Sure. Tianna, are you ready to go?"

I nodded and stood up.

I was grateful for this experience and would miss Aida and her little mud-hut. In my past travels, I sometimes hardly even noticed I was outside the United States. A 4-star hotel in Chicago was not that different than a 4-star hotel in London, or Tokyo, or Cairo. This house did not have a single element of luxury, but it projected hominess. I actually felt like I was on foreign soil, immersed in a culture distinct from my own.

As we stood up to head back outside, I looked around the dimly-lit interior. Each room had only one light, a dull, filamentous light bulb that did little to chase away the mid-afternoon shadows creeping in through the windows. The kitchen was simple—a stove, a sink, and a beat-up cutting board above which hung a variety of fruits, vegetables, and dried meats. Off the kitchen was a small living room, with a coffee table, a few books and magazines, but no television set. Hanging on the walls were five gorgeous tapestries that stood in stark contrast to the otherwise-spartan amenities. They depicted a complex geometric design, typical of Persian Carpets or Islamic religious art that forbade depictions of Allah. I knew there was no way that Aida could afford such art and realized she had to have made them.

"Aida, those are beautiful!" I gushed, pointing to the wall-hangings. "They must have taken an eternity to make."

Aida smiled proudly. "Those represent my past five birthdays. Benjamin makes me one every year. Soon I'll have to add a new room just to hang them all!"

I spun around and looked at Benjamin in awe. He looked at his feet, a bit nervous.

"You knit?!"

He clearly misinterpreted my tone and punched me lightly on the shoulder. "Hey, don't knock it. I am very secure in my masculinity, thank you very much. It's a useful skill to have."

I backpedaled. "No, no, I'm stunned. They're so beautiful. How long did it take?"

"A while. I have a lot of spare time on my hands." He looked rather wistful. "I don't sleep well at night."

"I'll say."

I glanced back at the walls one final time as we headed out the door and shook my head. I couldn't help but be intimidated. Benjamin took the concept of Renaissance Man a bit too far—designing and building getaway vehicles, cooking, doting on his ailing mother, knitting artistic masterpieces, and doing who-knows-what for Professor Worthington. And I had only known him for a few hours. I sighed. I couldn't compete with that.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Tianna. I hope you have a good time in Thebes."

I smiled and kissed her lightly on the cheek.

"Thank you so much for lunch. I really enjoyed myself. Ma'Alsalam, Aida."

She smiled and waved as I crawled back into Jeeves a bit apprehensively. I did not fancy seeing how Benjamin drove once he got on an open road.

Having spent the last few hours with Aida, I now felt much more comfortable around Benjamin, even though we had scarcely conversed during lunch. There was so much I wanted to ask him. For starters, _why is your mom so freaking old?_ Or, _why are you working as an archaeologist's errand boy instead of, say, a professional embroiderer for Martha Stewart, or a model for Abercrombie? _Or, _why are we driving a cannibalized racecar posing as a mobile scrapheap? _However, I couldn't muscle up the nerve.

"Your mother is very nice." I started out.

Benjamin flashed me a very genuine smile. "She is, isn't she? I wouldn't have made it without her."

"I imagine she would say the same thing about you."

His eyes flashed. "Not remotely. I have been more of a detriment to her than anything. I'm doing everything I can now to make up for my past shortcomings. In time, I hope she will forgive me."

That certainly had not expected to hear such bitterness in his voice.

"Somehow I find that very unlikely."

"That is because you do not know me. I did something terrible to her once, something so bad I am lucky that she talks to me at all, much less allows me to take care of her. If I have to spend the rest of my life earning back her trust and her love, I will."

Having seen the way Aida looked at her son when he wasn't watching, I knew that he had already achieved this goal, but I didn't want to argue. I didn't like this new moody, depressed Benjamin so much as the cool, confident character I had met this morning. So I changed the subject.

"So how exactly does one get from Cairo to Thebes?"

"Trans-African highway. It travels down the entire eastern side of Africa along the Nile, through the Rift Zone, past the Serengeti, and to the coast." Benjamin said. "If we had two weeks to spare, we'd end up in Cape Town."

As he spoke, we crossed back over the Nile and immediately turned south, merging onto a new highway that paralleled the river. Traffic was minimal in this direction and we were one of only a few on the road.

"Wow, I had no idea. Last time, I flew directly by helicopter from the airport to the field camp." I looked down sheepishly.

"Well then, this will be educational for you. We have about 300 miles to go. And do you know what the best part is?"

"What's that?"

He turned a smoldering gaze on me. "These roads are nearly always empty once you get out of the city. Most people travel south on the river. So we're completely and utterly alone."

I suddenly felt very warm.

"Okay?"

"So there's nobody around to see me do…" Benjamin suddenly floored the gas until his foot was parallel with the floor. "This!"

Jeeves shot forward like a bullet out of a gun. I was pressed back into my seat as the car accelerated. I glanced at the speedometer as it crossed 100 mph, and then 110 mph, and then settled near 120 mph.

"Having fun yet?" I asked shakily as I regained control of my faculties.

"Absolutely. I like to go fast. It's a guilty pleasure." He looked over at me. "My record for Cairo to Thebes is three and a half hours. Do you want to try for three?"

"How about we go for four and get there alive?"

"That doesn't sound very exciting."

I shrugged. We raced along in silence for the next few minutes. We had left the urban corridor of Cairo behind and were now traveling amongst farmland, with plots for rice, cotton, sugarcane, and wheat. Looking out my passenger-side window as we reached the top of a small hill, I could see the edge of the Sahara Desert contrasting against the fertile green fields just a few miles to the west, so narrow was the ribbon of the Nile. Without the river, this valley would be just as lifeless as the desert around it, but here I was, surrounded by rice patties submerged in a foot of water and endless cotton fields covered in beautiful green and white tufts. Despite the purpose of my visit, I was overjoyed to be here, traveling down this narrow road, with the Nile River on my right and the desert on my left. It just felt…right.

Slumped down in the warm car against the surprisingly comfortable front seat, my eyelids began to feel very heavy. I knew it would be rather rude to fall asleep on Benjamin, but I was fighting a losing battle. Besides, he needed as few distractions as possible given how fast he was driving. Well, I could just rest my eyes for a few minutes. That would be okay.

I felt a soft push on my ribs, and my eyes squeaked open. "Whazza matter?"

Benjamin laughed. "Welcome back, sleepyhead. We're almost there."

I snapped awake. Shoot.

"What? I fell asleep? Oh, I'm really sorry."

"Not a problem. Allowed me to add a few MPHs to the speedometer without being scolded like a schoolboy."

I smacked him on the shoulder for that remark, which wasn't a good idea, because it felt like hitting a rock. Benjamin must be a beast in the gym.

He ignored my failed beatdown and continued. "In fact, assuming we make it in the next 21 minutes, which we will, we will set a new record for Cairo-to-Thebes."

He appeared over-the-moon about this fact.

"Go us."

"Indeed, you deserve most of the credit. Without your unconsciousness, I could never have done it. If you're interested, I'm thinking about tackling Thebes-to-Nairobi next week, see if I can't improve on my six-and-half hour mark. You're welcome to come along."

"I'm good, I think. But thanks."

And I was good. Despite his slightly alarming obsession with speed, I had truly enjoyed myself since arriving in Egypt, something I had not thought possible. I was beginning to suspect that Professor Worthington had sent Benjamin to distract me. If so, his plan had been wildly successful. Given my nightmare of a day yesterday, I would never have believed myself capable of laughing. But laugh I had. And I had scarcely once thought of Volterra or my escape the entire afternoon.

I hardly knew him, but I could immediately tell that Benjamin was fun. That was the best word I had to describe him. I could have waxed melodic about how stunningly handsome he was, or his many talents, or his endearing devotion to his mother, but when it came down to it, his carefree and confident personality defined him. He had one of the most beautiful, genuine smiles of anybody I had ever met. It was a combination of shear joy, a passion for what he was doing and a predatory gleam that made my blood boil. I had taken his presence for granted all afternoon and I was actually sad we were almost at our destination.

"I really appreciate all your help this today, Benjamin. I had a really good time."

"Honestly, I probably had a better time than you. I don't get out very often. In fact, this is my first time away from Thebes in four months. And it is even rarer still that I get to spend a day with somebody my age, much less somebody as beautiful as you."

He smiled nervously in my direction before looking away, devoting a bit too much attention to the road. If his perfect, golden skin could blush, I knew it would have been bright red. I, on the other hand, did not have that problem, and I felt my cheeks burning. It was rather cute, I admitted, to see his seeming lack of suavity when it came to personal complements as he had been so confident about everything else all afternoon.

"Well, thanks. You should get out more. You're lots of fun to be with. Anybody would agree with me."

Benjamin laughed sardonically.

"Just hold that thought until you've talked with Edwin this evening. I might not be as fun as you seem to think. In fact, I might be the last person you want to see."

There he was again, being all morose. It did not fit him at all. I was about to object on all counts, but at that moment, we flew over the crest of one final hill, and a lush valley spread out below us as the Nile took a meandering loop through the desert. Directly ahead lay the modern city of Luxor on the shores of the Nile, its modern hotels and museums built atop, and interspersed among the ancient ruins of Thebes. Standing at the river's edge, I could see the monumental Temple of Karnak, whose construction spanned the reign of 15 different pharaohs. Across the river on the west bank, lay further, undeveloped ruins of Thebes including the great Valley of the Kings whose tombs and chambers interred some 63 pharaohs including the infamous King Tutankhamun. So great was the ancient capital city of the sun god Amun-Ra that its size dwarfed its modern-day counterpart.

As the setting sun dipped behind the sandy hills far to the west, its last rays scattered off the backs of the adobe structures staining them gold. Despite the similarities between the terracotta of Volterra and the adobe and sandstone of Egypt, I felt comfort here, rather than terror. Instead of nervousness and fear at the prospect of soon learning what or whom I had witnessed in Volterra, I felt strangely satisfied with my current circumstances. The young man seated beside me, the prospect of seeing Professor Worthington again, and the wholesome emptiness of this place all helped restore in me a more positive outlook and frame of mind. I felt confident that my greatest challenges were behind me. A sense of ease and contentment flooded me as we sped down the hill in the failing light towards our destination…and answers.

To Be Continued…


	4. Thebes

Disclaimer: Twilight and all of its character's are the sole property of Stephanie Meyer. No infringement is intended. She merely allows us to play in her world for a bit, for which I am grateful.

Note: All events and people referenced in this chapter and henceforth are historically accurate, although, of course, I emphasize certain aspects to best suit the plot of the story.

Chapter 4: Thebes

By the time that we reached downtown Luxor, daylight had finally faded and the city's lights had twinkled on. After two years, I was surprised how much I still remembered from my time here. Since I had been more interested in the culture of Egypt rather than its archaeology, I had spent a great deal of my free time in Luxor becoming well-acquainted with the city life. I recognized many of the city's landmarks as we drove by. We passed shuttered storefronts and faux-street bazaars that during the day catered to thousands of European tourists, selling all manner of trinkets, statues, paintings, and cheap knockoffs to the more gullible. The riverfront near and just south of The Temple of Karnak was much less shady, with docks for sightseeing tours and riverboat voyages up to Cairo. Trendy restaurants with open-air balconies facing the Nile lined the promenade serving multi-cultural cuisine from Egypt and the Middle East, fine wine from Italy and France, and the most exquisite tossed salads heaped in olive oil straight from the mountains of Greece. I remembered one restaurant in particular, _Al-Salem, _that I used to frequent on my days off. The food had been merely adequate, but one of the waiters there had been very cute, with jetblack hair and an easy smile. Thinking back, he reminded me a bit of Benjamin, at least in personality and temperament, though Benjamin was peerless in physique. Later, when I'd gotten angry with my parents, I'd entertained fantasies of running away back to Luxor to be with him.

I was pulled out of my trip down memory lane when Benjamin pointed out the Temple of Karnak just up ahead illuminated by floodlights. It was a breathtaking site, its ancient stone columns and walls rising up from the modern structures that had surrounded it. I could only imagine the effort and lives that had been lost dragging all 134 columns, each of which weighed 70 tons, from the stone queries 10 long miles away. After four months living amongst archaeology buffs, I had become very familiar with Egyptian history, in spite of my general disinterest in the subject.

The modern city of Luxor was built atop the ruins of the ancient city of Thebes. Thebes itself first rose to prominence during the 11th dynasty of the Middle Kingdom around 2000 BC and endured as one of Egypt's richest cities for nearly 1500 years. The city's strategic location both along the Nile River and near the Red Sea and the rich ports of Asia made it very wealthy. Trade routes to the Kingdom of Kush in the south, Canaan and Phoenicia in the Near East, and even Greece across the Mediterranean Sea brought all manner of wealth to Thebes.

At its heart, however, Thebes was a religious center. As the city developed into the most powerful force in the Egyptian political landscape, the local god Amon was merged with the pan-Egyptian sun god Ra to create a singular "master god," Amun-Ra, whose worship spread to all corners of the kingdom. It was believed by the Ancient Egyptians that Amun-Ra was the creator of the _Ba_, or the breath of life that gave each his soul and personality. Amun-Ra featured so prominently in the culture of Thebes that the city was known as Niwt-imn, or "The City of Amun" and did not receive the name Thebes until two thousand years later when the Greeks under Alexander invaded and named it after the eponymous city in Greece. Thebes used its vast wealth to trade for luxuries such as Natron, Myrrh, and Frankinsense which priests used in the embalming process that rose up in honor of Amun-Ra around Karnak. Preserved bodies were buried en masse in the great necropolis on the west bank of the Nile: The Valley of the Kings. It was here that Professor Worthington conducted his field research, where the buried ruins had not been disturbed by the growth of Luxor.

The power of Thebes came to an end in 650 BC when the Assyrian emperor Ashurbanipal attacked and sacked the city. He desecrated the temples of Amon-Ra, trucking gold and fine oils back to Asia, whilst pillaging all other religious icons that held no value or were too large to transport. Not only did he tear down the temples, but it is said that his army exhumed and burned so many of the mummified remains of kings and noblemen that the sun was blotched out by black, oily smoke for days.

For the next 2500 years, the city lay dormant. The Greeks and Romans paid little attention to the poor desert village, nor did the colonial powers through the 18th century. It was only with a rising interest in the ancient world in the 1800s that the foreign powers swarmed to the desert ruins of Thebes, raising Luxor like a phoenix from the ashes to make it the greatest convergence of the ancient and modern in the entire world.

We crossed over one of the three bridges in Luxor that spanned the Nile and drove on for about 10 minutes, out into the desert where there was just the faint headlights to guide us along the bumpy, sandy road. We rounded a bend in the road and I knew that the camp was just ahead. The base of the field camp was located at the mouth of a wadi--a generally dry, ancient river gorge--about two miles south of the Valley of the Kings where the Professor believed there might be an extension of the larger burial complex.

It looked much as I remembered it two years ago, which wasn't saying much. Luxurious it was not. A series of nondescript trailers had been towed in from Cairo and formed the living quarters of the permanent members of Edwin's group—graduate students, technicians, and manual laborers--while small, plywood sheds served as makeshift homes for the more transient members. Each trailer had a pair of bunk beds, a small kitchen, and a single bathroom and shower. Electricity was provided from Luxor by tapping a power-line that ran along this side of the river. Edwin, of course, had his own trailer that doubled as his office. Upon my first arrival, I remembered my initial horror at seeing where I would be spending the next four months. I even tried to convince Edwin to give me a trailer to myself. That had not sat well at all with the other students and I was permanently typecast as the spoiled American brat, a stereotype that I now realized was completely justified.

We pulled into a makeshift parking lot and joined a beat-up Jeep, a grime-encrusted Landrover, a pair of mopeds, and, to my surprise, a slick silver sportscar that might have been a BMW. It looked decidedly out of place. I saw Benjamin looking at the car with a strange look on his face--not jealousy, as I might have expected, but of recognition and a twinge of nervousness. I was unconcerned, as I was sure it was just some dignitary from Cairo visiting Edwin and trying to make an impression.

I got out of the car and began walking towards the trailer that I knew to be Edwin's when I realized that Benjamin was not beside me.

"Aren't you coming, too?" I asked.

"I have to go take care of a couple things before it gets too late." He rubbed at his eyes, as if they were itching rather badly. "It was great to meet you today, Tianna."

"Me too. I'll see you later though, right?"

"If you would like to, then yes."

_If I would like to?_ What was that supposed to mean? Was he just being nice? Maybe I had not made a very good impression after all. Perhaps the one time I actually wanted to impress somebody, my so-called talent had abandoned me. Benjamin wasn't even looking at me, instead gazing awkwardly at the ground. He looked like he couldn't wait to get out of there. I suddenly felt very unsure of myself.

"Of course I'd like to see you again, Benjamin. Maybe we can set a new world record for Thebes-to-Nairobi. I promise I'll be asleep the whole time!"

He didn't laugh.

"Okay, Tia. Just promise me one thing. Please, please, just keep an open mind when you talk to Edwin. That's all I ask."

I turned when I heard the door behind me open and slam shut, followed by a distinctly British voice calling, "Tianna Sabbat! Is that you?"

By the time I turned back to Benjamin, he was gone.

Professor Edwin stood in front of me, holding a fluorescent electric lantern that threw his face into stark relief. He looked good, or as good as somebody 70 years old could look. He stood tall and upright, and was dressed in a tweed jacket and a pair of old Jeens. His hair was gray in the sort of way that made him look dignified rather than ailing. Perhaps his face had a few more wrinkles than before, but they just served to emphasize the smile he was throwing my way.

He came over and pulled me into a tight hug that I returned. It was good to see him again.

"Tianna! How was your trip? Wait! I must show you what we have discovered since you left! Come, this way. "

He had never been one for lengthy greetings or small-talk. I cringed internally. Did he really think I was interested in all of this? Had my acting skills been that good before?

He held the lantern out into front of him as he walked deeper into the gorge. I felt a bit uncomfortable walking several miles up a wadi in the dark in open-toed shoes without a light of my own—Egyptian asps and scorpions tended to hunt at night.

"Now I know you don't share my passion for archaeology"—so much for the Hollywood career after all--"but even you will find this absolutely gorgeous."

Fortunately, after only five minutes we approached a tunnel hewn out of the rock wall of the gorge. It was clearly a recent excavation, with piles of gravel and larger boulders still lying about among several backhoes and earthmovers. At the entrance to the cavern, Edwin flipped a switch and a series of light bulbs turned on, leading into the structure.

"We just got the electricity installed a few days ago. Works like a charm though."

The cavern quickly narrowed upon entering and I could barely stand upright as we walked single-file deeper into the tunnel. The chamber walls were supported by stone blocks, which had collapsed in some areas revealing the earthen walls beneath. Modern concrete frames had been added at intervals to support the ceiling.

"We first discovered the chamber about a year-and-a-half ago just after you left using our new ground-penetrating radar. It took us some time after that to get permission from the Egyptian authorities to begin the excavation and we started just 60 days ago."

During the final weeks of my stay in Egypt, Edwin had been trying to scrape together funds to buy a radar system, which he believed would be the new face of archaeology. Obviously, he had been successful.

The tunnel suddenly widened into a vast chamber. Thanks to the newly installed lighting, I could see that it was roughly circular, about 50 feet across and about 20 feet tall, with a series of columns and braces supporting the ceiling. It was, without a doubt, the largest burial chamber I had seen in Egypt. But what was most impressive was the artwork that adourned the walls. I could see a series of motifs painted meticulously onto the wall in red, blue, black and gold paint, illustrating some sort of religious ceremony. The entire wall was also covered with hieroglyphics either chiseled into the chamber or painstakingly painted. All of the artwork was in surprisingly good conditions given that it was 4000 years old.

Edwin certainly lived under a lucky star when it came to digging. He possessed an unparalleled track record in his excavations that seemed to be more than mere coincidence, from the spectacular sarcophagus he uncovered in the 60s that eventually led to his knighthood, to a series of buried step-pyramids he discovered in the 90s, and now to this stunning chamber. He sure had an uncanny sense of the right locations to begin an excavation. A considerable fraction of the knowledge base of Egyptian history could likely be attributed to Edwin.

"It really is beautiful, Professor. Congratulations."

"Thank you. A find like this could double what we know of Theban history! Not to mention that it will secure funding for the group for the next half-century," he chuckled.

"Now, enough of my prattle. I thought we could discuss your adventure in Volterra in here if you'd like. It is certainly more comfortable than my cramped office."

Personally, I felt it would be rather morbid to discuss my "adventure" in this tomb, but I just shrugged and nodded. Edwin led me over to where a collection of small chairs had been arranged and we both took a seat.

"Now Tianna, I know it was a trying experience, but if you could just tell me everything you remember. Please don't leave any details out, even if they seem absurd. I promise I will not judge."

I took a deep breath and began my story. I recounted how Johanna, Kelly, and I had been informed by our hotel in Milan that we had won a free day-trip to Volterra, despite not having even entered such a contest. I had no desire to go, but when Johanna learned that Aaron, the handsome boy she had met at a club the night before, had "won" as well, she convinced Kelly and me to go. I recounted the devastatingly gorgeous Heidi and how she had herded us into a circular throne room beneath Volterra. I recalled Aro and his subsequent murder that had initiated the slaughter. I spoke of my miraculous escape, and subsequent flight through the underbelly of Volterra, my thievery of a Porsche 911, and my journey to Rome and then to Egypt.

Edwin looked fascinated the entire time, his eyes fixated on mine.

I had run through the story in my mind so many times during the past 24 hours that I made it through the entire tale without breaking down. By the time I finished, Edwin's face flashed through a variety of different emotions ranging from intrigue, to realization, to curiosity, and finally a look of exuberance. He continued to stare at me for a full minute after I had stopped talking before he finally spoke.

"So you say you just "willed" yourself to be hidden, all the while standing in plain view and they just…walked right past you?"

"Yes. I was too afraid to move. They must have walked three feet from where I was laying."

Edwin rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Remarkable. Just remarkable. I've never heard of anything like that before. I'll have to ask him, but I'd wager such an escape is unprecedented…" He continued to mumble, carrying on a conversation with himself.

"Professor? Do you know who they were?" I hated to interrupt, but if left alone, Edwin could chat with himself for hours.

Edwin turned and looked at me the same way a father might before he was forced to give his youngest daughter the birds-and-the-bees talk.

"Yes, Tianna. I believe that you encountered a group known as the Volturi. You cannot imagine how lucky you are to still be alive. In all the years that they have been hunting, I do not believe that any human has ever escaped their grasp. What you did is unprecedented."

The Volturi. Although I had never heard the term before, it sent a shiver through my spine. It sounded so sinister, yet appropriate. Aro. Caius. Marcus. Associating those monsters with a title made them sound all the more vicious.

"The Volturi…what are they?"

"Can you not guess?"

"Well, I mean, I have ideas…but…absurd." I muttered softly. My vampire theory sounded a lot more credible sitting alone in the total darkness just a few miles from Volterra. Now that Edwin was forcing me to vocalize my suspicions in the safety and comfort of Thebes, such theories sounded preposterous.

"Tianna, remember who you're talking to. It is very unlikely anything you say will come as a surprise to me. Just remember what you saw, what you felt."

"Vampires." It came out as a statement, not a question.

"Yes. The Volturi are vampires. The ruling class of all vampires to be more precise: Aro, Caius, Marcus, and their Guard. They are the most ancient of the Ancients. Aro, Caius, and Marcus are each over 4000 years old, born in Assyria where the first of the vampires arose. They moved to their tower in Italy 1500 years later with the founding of Rome where they have remained ever since.

"It is now their role to uphold the one law that all vampires must hold sacred: their existence must be kept secret."

Technically, Edwin merely confirmed my suspicions, but I still felt as if I had been clubbed in the chest by a sledgehammer.

"Then why would they bring 50 humans into Volterra who knew nothing of vampires? There was nothing to protect!"

"The Volturi, like all vampires, must drink. They do not hunt in their own city, so as to prevent their secret from escaping. They use the guard to bring prey to the city. It seems you and your friends were such unfortunate individuals."

I listened as Edwin proceeded to tell me more gruesome details about vampires. They were essentially indestructible. Garlic, silver, wooden stakes—all fictitious defenses dreamed up by humans to give themselves a fighting chance. Sunlight, too, did not kill a vampire, but vampires avoided the light for reasons Edwin did not explain. Vampires were exceptionally strong and fast. They did not require sleep or any sustenance beyond the blood they drank. Vampires were also venomous. It was the venom that either incapacitated a victim to permit leisurely feeding or turned said victim into one of the undead. Apparently, it was an extraordinarily painful process that took three days.

I marveled at my incredible luck, now knowing from what a mighty force I had escaped. Thinking of that night, reminded me of one of my most pressing questions. I interrupted Edwin before he could dive into a lecture on covens and vampire social structure.

"Professor, do you think they're looking for me? The Volturi, I mean. Do you think they noticed they were one…body short?

Edwin eyes widened and he carefully considered my question. "No. I do not think so. They have a tracker, Demetri, and there is no escaping him. If they wanted you, you never would have made it out of Italy alive."

I didn't know whether to be relieved or terrified at that statement. One thing, however, bothered me.

"Professor, if the Volturi are so formidable and I am the first human to escape from Volterra, then how do _you_ know so much about them, and about vampires in general?"

Edwin paused and seemed to be choosing his words very carefully.

"Tianna…as you have most unfortunately learned…you do not live in the world you thought you did. Immortals and humans must interact to survive as— "

"Interact?" I interrupted angrily. "What interaction do you mean besides tearing the throats out of my two best friends before drinking their blood? Professor, Johanna and Kelly were killed 10 feet from where I was standing! And I should be dead as well! So tell me, how do you know about vampires, since I very much doubt it is the same way I know about them? Otherwise you would not have said something so stupid."

Edwin did not seem pleased how this conversation was progressing. He wasn't looking into my eyes, but was staring distantly over my shoulder. Before he had a chance to reply, a deep, velvety voice spoke out

"He knows because he works for us." I spun around. Two individuals were standing in the shadows of the tunnel exit, one very tall and a second, shorter. I couldn't make out their features.

"Hello, Tianna. Welcome to Thebes. My name is Amun. It is a pleasure to meet you…the one who outsmarted the Volturi. A rare feat indeed." His words were like maple syrup, so sweet and soft they rolled off his tongue.

He walked forward out of the glaring lights and I finally got a glimpse of him. My heart stopped. He was tall and extremely well built, wearing an open leather cloak that did little to hide the bulging muscles of his pectorals. He had curly jet-black hair that was greased back and a long, braided goatee hanging down from his chin, a fashion that had not been in vogue for at least thirty years. Focusing on his face, I could see that he was clearly middle-eastern, with his olive skin and angular features. However, the tone of his skin looked as though it had been bleached, so that it was a disturbingly pale, transparent brown. But that was not what caught my attention.

His eyes. They burned a bright crimson, a color I had seen just yesterday looking down on me from above as my life flashed before my eyes. The red pupils pulsed as they looked me up and down approvingly. He was one of them. A vampire. I stumbled backwards until I bumped into the wall of the cavern.

Edwin looked at me beseechingly.

"Tianna, it's okay. It's not what you think. They're—"

"Pr-Prof-Professor…how could you?...Don't you know what he will do to you…to me?..." Words failed me.

The man called Amun spoke up again, his voice oozing with sincerity. His deceptive tone reminded me of Aro back in Volterra. "Tianna, please relax. You will come to no harm in Thebes, I promise. After all, you were with a member of my coven the entire day and no injury befell you. Is that not right, Benjamin?"

The second figure stepped out of the shadows, and my heart, still frozen from having glimpsed Amun, was kick-started and began pounding in my chest. I gasped for breath again and again until my chest rose higher and higher.

Benjamin. No longer were his eyes a sparkling green, but they burned a dull red, not as intense as Amun's, but they still terrified me. The skin of his face was no longer a deep brown, but the same pale-olive tone as Amun's. I had spent the entire afternoon with this…this…monster. I had felt so comfortable around him. I had felt nervously silly when he smiled at me. I recognized a nascent crush when I saw one, and what I had experienced today definitely qualified. Now I knew that the only things he was likely to crush back were my bones so as to better squeeze out every last drop of blood. He was a vampire! A filthy, heartless, blood-sucker. No different than Aro or any of the others in Volterra. Damn it all! I had been betrayed on all sides. By Edwin for luring me here under the pretense of answers. By Benjamin, for being so fun, cheerful, and cute and nearly perfect when he was actually a vampire. And by my own muscles, which had frozen up and were now actively preventing any chance of escape. My eyes darted from Edwin seated rigidly in his chair to Amun who was slowly circling the edge of the chamber towards our position. I refused to look at Benjamin, to see his blood-red eyes.

"Tia, I—"

Hearing his voice caused sensation to rush back to my body and I snapped into motion. I made a blind dash for the exit tunnel, without looking behind me to see if there were any pursuers, although I heard Benjamin and Amun arguing as I fled. Perhaps they would spend enough time fighting over who had dibs on the human so that I could escape. I emerged safely into the desert seconds later and made a beeline for Jeeves. Hoping against hope, I glanced inside and saw the keys still in the ignition. He had not gone back to retrieve them after he dropped me off. _Foolish Vampire. _I jumped in. The fact that Jeeves was a stick-shift hardly registered in my mind. I started the engine, fluidly shifted up into first gear and floored the gas. I could hear the back wheels spinning against the sand for a moment before they gained traction and we shot forward. I would show them that I was not so easy a snack as they had thought. I had escaped vampires in Volterra and I could escape again.

Rather than take the time to turn around and head out the way we had come in, I instead continued straight up the wadi, which was thankfully very flat and dry. Moments later I realized that this might not have been the best course of action as the gorge I was in was beginning to narrow. Turning around was out of the question. Fortunately, as the wadi narrowed, it also rose in elevation until I was at the level of the desert and I could turn out of the now gently sloping gorge onto the flat expanse of the Sahara Desert. I could see the lights of Luxor in my rearview mirror across the dark ribbon of the Nile. I figured that I would parallel the river for a few miles until I reached a road, find a crossing back to Luxor and get to the nearest airport. Coming to Egypt had been an enormous mistake and it was time to get home and to face the consequences of the past two days.

Just as I was turning to head northward, I heard a pounding on the window. I jumped in my seat, nearly hitting my head on the ceiling. It was Benjamin, running alongside the car. _How the hell did he get out here so quickly? _I screamed and floored the gas again, accelerating westward into the black abyss of desert. I shifted up to second and then third gear. I looked out my rearview mirror and couldn't see him. I heard a light tap on the window again, following by a muffled voice. I looked at the speedometer and saw I was going nearly 50 mph. _Freakish, unnatural, loathsome vampires! _I shifted to fourth and then fifth gear and Jeeves accelerated. The desert whirled by me as the speedometer needle passed 70, and then 80. The car began bouncing up and down, protesting the speed and the terrain. I looked in both my rearview and sideview mirrors and didn't see Benjamin anywhere. Unfortunately, I could no longer see the city lights of Luxor either. I was alone and lost in the desert, being stalked by a thirsty vampire.

I soon realized why I could not see the city lights. Behind me, a large wall of sand 20 feet tall was fast approaching. _A sandstorm? At night?_ I had once experienced a sandstorm while in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia with my father. They usually occurred during the late-afternoon when the desert winds caused by thermal heating were strongest, not in the still of the night. I urged Jeeves forward, eclipsing 100 mph, hoping to outrun the storm. I was now being jerked up and down in my seat as the shocks received a beating from the rough terrain. Even in the haze of my anger towards him, I had to admire Benjamin's craftsmanship in building a vehicle that could exceed 100 mph off the road. However, it was not fast enough and the sand overtook me rendering my headlights useless. I couldn't see five feet in front of me, and the car was beginning to shake from side to side in the gusty wind. I was tempted to slow down and wait until the storm passed, since I doubted even a vampire could travel in a blinding sandstorm. I lifted my foot off the gas.

Suddenly, the ride became much rougher and, squinting forward, I could see that I had left the smooth desert and was now traveling down a slope into another wadi. This realization had barely registered before I collided head-on with a large boulder at the base of the slope. There was a thunderous crack that sent a shockwave through the car's frame as it compressed like an accordion, flipping the back end of the car up into the air. We were suddenly airborne and rolling end-over-end. I was completely disoriented and felt a moment of weightlessness as Jeeves completed his mid-air roll. I casually wondered how many bones I was about to break and braced myself for what was certain to be a painful return to earth. To my utter disbelief, the sandstorm suddenly vanished and instead of a vicious face-plant onto the ground, the car gently came to rest right-side up.

Without pausing to consider my good fortune, I threw kicked open the door and started running into the darkness. I hadn't managed more than 50 feet when I felt his arms wrap around me. Despite the chilly desert evening, they felt freezing cold against my skin. I struggled and screamed for him to let me go but he did not oblige. I tried biting his wrist, but it felt like biting granite and I probably chipped one of my teeth in the process. I didn't even bother to try the old fallback knee-in-the-groin.

"Please, Tia! Give me a chance to explain!"

"To explain what? Do you always go through this much trouble with your midnight snacks before you bleed them dry? Didn't your parents tell you not to play with your food!" I yelled, tears stinging the edges of my eyes.

Benjamin flinched and released me. Knowing there was no chance of escape this time, I rounded on him, determined to at least make him feel bad for what he was going to do.

"You know what I'm talking about! Taking a merry trip through old Cairo, being so charming, and cute, and generally perfect…and then trying to explain to me why you are going to eat me!"

Benjamin looked gobsmacked. "You thought I was going to eat you?"

"That's what your kind do, right? We're just lambs for the slaughter! I was in Volterra, remember? I saw everything!" I was practically sobbing out the words.

Benjamin looked a bit awkward. "Well, yea, I mean, we do…drink…from humans. But not you! And certainly not like they do in Volterra, I'm sure. We go after…different people."

"And that makes it okay?"

Benjamin hesitated, before the ghost of the self-assured smile I had so admired earlier flashed across his face. "So you thought I was perfect?"

I fumed at the abrupt change of subject. "That was before, you nimrod! Before I learned you were a filthy-bloodsucker. And I was exaggerating."

But by the dim headlights I could see that he was smiling now. "Don't be silly, Tia. _I _would never harm you. And I assure you, killing you is the last thing that Amun would want."

"Why? I'm human. I'm sure my blood tastes pretty good," I said, pouting.

"You smell delicious, actually. But don't worry, I've been around humans for several years now and have learned to resist. You have nothing to fear." He was grinning at me again, sounding rather proud of this achievement.

It was very frustrating. Benjamin was a vampire. Vampires had killed my two best friends in Italy, and nearly myself. Vampires were evil, that much I could tell from Aro, Caius, Marcus, and their Guard. Yet, I felt completely disarmed my Benjamin. Yes, I hated his bloodred eyes. And without the makeup and contacts that I assumed he had been wearing earlier, his pale face and the dark circles under his eyes made him look exhausted and lethargic. Yet at the same time, when he smiled at me as he was doing now, he looked much less like the graceful, calculating vampires of Volterra, or even the brief glimpse I had of Amun, and much more like a teenage boy who was simply proud of yet another talent.

I still felt irate. In fact, I was perhaps even angrier because I couldn't even hate him properly, like all the other vampires I had come in contact with.

"You will tell me everything that I want to know." I wiped the tears from my cheeks as I tried to regain some manner of control.

"Yes, Tia. I will. How about we get back to camp first where it will be warmer and more comfortable for you?"

"Ummmm…I don't think Jeeves is in any condition to get back."

I couldn't make myself feel bad about it. Benjamin got what he deserved chasing after me like he did, in a way that led me to think I was being hunted. However, I did feel a bit bad for Jeeves, who I had become somewhat attached to. There was a massive dent between the headlights from where I had hit the boulder and the radiator was still smoking. The front axel also looked as if it had been knocked loose and the left front tire had been blown out. While the headlights still shone dimly, the glass casings had been cracked. I cringed. That car was not going anywhere anytime soon. Fortunately, Benjamin did not appear angry. If anything, he looked apologetic.

"No, if anybody should be sorry it is me. I don't know what I was thinking with that sandstorm. I had been hoping it would have slowed you down before you reached the rocky terrain. You really gave Jeeves a ride, I must say. That was some driving."

"Wait, what about the sandstorm? That was _you_?! How—"

"Please, Tia," he interrupted. "I promise I will tell you everything. Let's talk over here."

He walked swiftly into the night and away from the wreckage and I had to run to catch up before the darkness swallowed him. He led me over to a grove of ten or so scraggly-looking palm trees that enclosed a circle about 15 feet wide. The trees were about ten feet tall and, even in the near total darkness, I could tell that they were decidedly unhealthy with twisted trunks and drooping, dead fronds. I frowned at Benjamin, unsure why this place was any better than where we had just been and was prepared to say as much.

Without warning, there was suddenly a rapid series of shattering cracks like gunfire. I jumped a foot into the air and squeezed my eyes shut as bright flashes of lightning lit up the landscape in front of me. When I opened my eyes, I was greeted by a surreal scene. All of the palm trees were ablaze and burning with loud pops and crackles as if a series of 15-foot torches had been speared into the ground. The dry fronds burned furiously, throwing spires of orange and gold light a further ten feet into the sky. I could hear a dull whooshing sound as they sucked up oxygen to maintain the pyre. Small fragments of burning fronds fell nearly continuously from the frond crown producing a shimmering waterfall of flame that reached all the way to the ground. They gave off more light than street lamps and easily illuminated the entire enclosure. I looked up into the sky for a thunderhead and instead saw a half moon and myriad stars. It was a cloudless night. I turned to Benjamin, who I could see looked rather pleased with himself.

"How convenient," He commented, smirking.

My jaw dropped. _What on earth?_

"Come, Tia. Let's sit down here."

I stumbled over to an old log. He made to sit down next to me, but I wasn't having any of that. Even if he was more human than other vampires, I was not having him so close.

I stubbornly pointed across the flaming enclosure to another scraggly log. "Over there."

He looked at me intently, sighed, and walked back and sat down across the grove from me. I could feel a pleasant warmth emanating from the flaming trees above me. I had to admit, it felt good. With no humidity or cloudcover, the day-time desert heat quickly radiates and temperatures can fall into the 30s or 40s at night, but here surrounded by flame, I felt comfortably warm.

I looked over at Benjamin expectantly. By the firelight, his red eyes looked more natural and less unsettling. I could feel a nervous sort of energy radiating off of him. I had a feeling he hadn't shared this tale with anybody else before. He looked like an overeager boyscout, ready to tell his friends a ghost story by the campfire. Well, I _hoped _his story wouldn't involve ghosts or anything else that would give me nightmares for the rest of my life.

"Are you comfortable?"

"Yes."

He smiled at me.

"In order for you to understand our world, I would like to tell you my own story, if that is okay with you."

I felt a smile tugging at my lips, but refused to indulge it.

"That is fine." I tried to say it as indifferently as possible, even though I was extremely curious about his life.

He nodded, settled on the sand with his back resting comfortably against a log, and began.

"I was born to Aida and Samir Safadi in Port Sa'eed in February 1958…"

To Be Continued…


	5. Sahara

Disclaimer: Twilight and all of its character's are the sole property of Stephanie Meyer. No infringement is intended. She merely allows us to play in her world for a bit, for which I am grateful.

Note: All events and people referenced in this chapter and henceforth are historically accurate, although, of course, I emphasize certain aspects to best suit the plot of the story.

I hope everybody likes New Moon this week! Based on the starting point of this story, perhaps you could guess that it is my favorite of the four books…

Chapter 5: Sahara

I focused on Benjamin intently as he spoke from across the flaming grove.

"I was born to Aida and Samir Safadi in Port Sa'eed in February 1958. That's up on the Mediterranean Coast, northeast of Cairo. I grew up wealthy—my father's family was involved in the oil business. I had two brothers, Hikmet and Ali, who were three and four years older than me, respectively. We grew up in an apartment complex near the military base where my dad was stationed. He was in a Special Forces unit of the army, similar to your American SEALS.

"I had a very happy childhood. I can remember great times spent with my dad, who taught me everything he knew about engineering and mechanics. He was a very relaxed father and generally allowed me to pursue whatever adventures a young boy could dream up. My brothers and I dominated the school football leagues and had dreams of playing for the Egyptian national team someday. I was a good student when I focused, but the trouble and mischief I got into generally negated my grades in the eyes of my teachers."

The ghost of a smile flitted across his face before he continued.

"All in all, I was satisfied with my lot in life and took everything I had for granted. Those times came to an end in 1967 when I was only nine years old. In the days preceding the conflict known today as the Seven Days War, it was clear that Egypt and half of the Middle East would soon be going to war with the Israelis. Although we had the numbers, Israel had the superior technology. Against its airforce and navy, Egypt and her allies did not have a chance. My dad was a member of a first-strike demolitions team that was airlifted into Israel ahead of the war to destroy key military targets and infrastructure to negate Israel's technological advantage. They failed in their mission. The team was discovered near the Golan Heights before they had been able to place their charges and all members were summarily executed as enemy combatants."

I felt my heart clench at his story. Benjamin had a lost-puppy sort of look on his face, and I suddenly felt rather bad for making him sit so far away from me. But before I had a chance to say anything, he launched back into his story.

"The Seven Days War did not go well for Egypt or her allies. Our house was destroyed like most others on the coast during the shelling of Port Sa'eed by Israeli battleships and we were lucky to escape with our lives. After the war, we were forced to move back to Cairo to live with my Aunt. Aida never overcame her grief over Samir's death and was never again the cheery, upbeat mother she had been before the war, but we did gradually move on, at least until 1973. By then, I was 15 and still in secondary school, but my older brothers had come of age and had joined the military, over Aida's many objections. You could say they held a grudge against Israel for what had happened to our father and wanted a chance to get even. They would get an opportunity that same year. The Egyptian military brass hatched a plan to launch a surprise attack against Israel on October 6, or Yom Kippur, Israel's most holy day. Needless to say, fortune was once again against the Egyptians and my brothers were among the 6000 killed in what is known as the Yom Kippur War.

"Well, that just about tore my mom apart. The two of us moved into our own place in Cairo and she kept an extremely close watch on me, her only remaining child. For the next three years, I went to school and came home and that was about it. I did not have any chance to socialize outside of class and didn't make any new friends. I was what you would call an over-protected child. Compared to the freedom and adventures I had enjoyed growing up in Port Sa'eed, I felt stifled and miserable.

"However, the one place she could not keep watch over me was at school, and that was where I first met Professor Edwin Worthington. In 1976, when I was 18 and in my last year of schooling, he was invited to speak to the senior class as part of a history lesson. While I obviously didn't know it at the time, Edwin's visit was much more than just an opportunity to educate teenagers on Egyptology."

"Edwin took a great interest in me almost immediately. That afternoon, after school let out, he approached me as I was gathering my things. He asked if I'd care for a spot of tea at a parlor he knew downtown. Having not been outside for the better part of three years, I accepted gratefully. I called my mother from the school phone and said that I was staying late in the library to study. I had never lied to her before, and she trusted me implicitly."

The dour look on Benjamin's face told me that he considered lying to one's mother the greatest possible treachery. I couldn't relate as I lied to my parents almost continually. The lie that I would be forced to tell when I returned home would probably be my greatest yet.

"We never reached a tea parlor," Benjamin continued. "Instead, Edwin drove me south, past the city-limits of Cairo, assuring me that I would not regret accompanying him. In a small town about an hour south of the city, we pulled up in front of a surprisingly luxurious house in the middle of the desert. It was there that I met Amun for the first time. He informed me of the vampire world and invited me to join its ranks. He told me of the strength I would have, the immortality, the near invincibility and promised me a unique place in his coven.

"Now you can imagine how this sounded to the ears of an 18-year-old who had been cooped inside for the past two years of his life and who had seen nearly his entire family killed. I bore no ill will towards Israel. War is war and I saw my father's and brothers' deaths as more the fault of foolishness by the Egyptian military than a crime against Israel. Nevertheless, I had seen enough of death so that immortality and near-invincibility sounded downright attractive.

"I acted just as you would expect a rash teenage boy to act. I accepted Amun's offer without further thought. I did not consider the consequences of immortality, or of the craving and thirst for blood, the temptation that every human being would hold. And I did not consider that I was abandoning my mother who had already lost her husband and two sons.

"Amun took me south to the place where I was transformed. It lasted three days and was the most painful event of my short life. It is hard to describe the experience…" Benjamin looked away, apparently not wanting to go into further detail.

"Why did Amun want you in particular?" I spoke up at last, thoroughly engrossed in his story.

"As vampires, we have many skills at our disposal—speed, strength, vision, venom—but some of us are unique. As humans, some possess latent talents that can be amplified into powerful abilities upon being reborn as a vampire. I know that Aro, for example, can absorb the memories of anybody that he touches. And there are even rumors of a vampire in America that can see the future.

"In my case, as a human I was very attuned to the weather. I could tell when it was about to rain, or if a sandstorm was approaching, or when we were going to have a heatwave. I was never wrong. 'Benjamin the human barometer' my mother called me. It was this latent ability that first brought Edwin to me and led to my transformation."

"Wait, so what does Professor Worthington have to do with you guys exactly? Why would Amun keep a human around?" I asked.

"He has a talent as well. He can…sense those who are also talented and is therefore of immense value to Amun."

"Well then, what are you waiting for? Why doesn't Amun bite him and turn him into a vampire as well? He already seems perfectly comfortable being in bed with vampires." I spat angrily, still furious over Edwin's betrayal that brought me to Egypt.

"Come now, Tia. Don't be angry at Edwin. He is only following Amun's orders, and, believe me, it's very difficult for a human to disobey a vampire like Amun. Anyways, you could say that Edwin is our chief…recruiter. In addition to his lectures at the University of Cairo, he still goes to local secondary schools and talks to students about Egyptology. A bit odd for a world-famous professor, don't you think?"

"I suppose," I said, shrugging.

"On the contrary, it is the perfect cover to seek out prospective talents. If he was a vampire, he could obviously not fulfill this task. He is our coven's public face. Edwin prefers it this way, too. He likes the public image; he embraces his fame. If he was a vampire, his life's work would all be lost.

"Besides, Amun certainly makes it worth his while," Benjamin said, chuckling. "He provides Edwin with very, very reliable suggestions on precisely where to begin his excavations. Luck has nothing to do with Edwin's success as an archaeologist."

"How so?"

"Tia, how old do you think Amun is?"

I shrugged. "He looks about 40."

Benjamin laughed. "You're short a pair of zeros."

It took me a second to process that, but when I did, I gawked at Benjamin. "He's as old as the Volturi?"

"Nearly. He was bitten by Caius in Assyria and was one of the first vampires that the Volturi created over 4000 years ago. After his birth, he left the Volturi and traveled south to Egypt where he settled in the village of Thebes around 2000 B.C. Once—"

Something suddenly clicked into place in my mind, something that had struck me earlier when I had first had heard his name.

"Wait a second, do you mean to tell me that Amun is _the _Amun, the god who became Amun-Ra?"

Benjamin smiled widely at me. "You pick up quickly. Yes, Amun transformed the small fishing village of Thebes into the most influential city in all of Egypt inside of 200 years. He never aged, possessed unnatural strength, speed, and an unforgettable physique. It is not surprising that he was worshipped as a God by those who caught a glimpse of him."

I interrupted again. "But didn't the city notice that people were being bled dry left, right and center? I mean, the population was so much smaller back then…"

"Not at first. Tell me, Tia, what do you know about the process of mummification? In particular, how was the body prepared?"

"Well, the fluids were drained before the body was embalmed. The brain was hooked out through the nose, the guts through the throat, and the blood was drained through—oh. You mean he drank from corpses?" I shuddered, disgusted.

"No, the dying were given a sedative that mimicked death, and he was then able to drink freely under the guise of mummification. Even after feeding, the bodies raised no suspicion as draining was just part of the mummification process. It was a good system that worked well for over a thousand years. Amun was probably the most well-fed vampire of his era.

"However, heading into the first millennium BC, a problem arose. Amun had gotten a bit carried away creating new vampires. At first, it was just a core group of competent individuals that Amun used to do his bidding as priests, mystics, and a guard to procure new victims. However, he quickly found it more convenient to have servants whom he did not have to replace every fifty years or so. By 1000 BC, nearly half of Thebes was vampiric. As you can imagine, this placed a heavy toll on the mortal population not only of Thebes, but of all Egypt as well. Amun had to get creative to feed himself and his clan, but at the same time to keep the truth a secret."

"How did he manage that?" I asked.

"Conveniently, outbreaks of disease and plague began afflicting the entire kingdom 'killing' thousands. Are you familiar with the ten biblical plagues of Egypt? The curse of the first-born may be one of the greatest body-snatchings of all time. In a fell swoop, vampires ravaged the cities of Egypt that night drugging the eldest sons and daughters so that they were presumed dead, bringing Amun thousands of fresh victims. Similar episodes were repeated over the next few hundred years to support the out-of-control vampire population in Thebes.

"But by 750 BC, Egypt was on the brink. The human population had been decimated and rumors were spreading throughout the ancient world. Something had to be done. The Volturi, who by then had assumed the role of the vampire ruling class from their base in Babylon, decided to interfere. You have heard of Ashurbanipal and his campaign in Egypt?"

I nodded. He was the Assyrian ruler who had sacked Thebes and most of Lower Egypt.

"Fiction. Ashurbanipal's forces never made it across the Sinai. Instead, the Volturi and their burgeoning guard swept south and devastated the vampire population of Egypt. They showed no mercy and slaughtered every one of Amun's creations and burned the bodies, leaving no trace. Thebes would not recover for over 2500 years. However, they permitted Amun to live. In a rare act of compassion, Caius did not desire to destroy his first creation.

"Amun fled Egypt with a healthy respect for the law, his god-complex decimated. He wandered as a nomad for the next two-and-a-half thousand years throughout Asia and across the Bering Strait into the Americas. He stayed clear of Europe since the Volturi had moved their operation to Italy with the founding of Rome. It was only about 50 years ago that he returned to Egypt, where he found me, and began building up his forces again."

"His forces?"

"Yes. While the human sense of conquest has varied widely over the centuries from hunting grounds, to agricultural land, to silver and gold, and now to oil, the vampire objective of conquest has changed little in the last four millennia. The goal is always to control the areas of highest population density. It makes feeding easier and less overt."

I cringed at the thought of humans being treated like feedstock, but kept my mouth shut.

"In this part of the world, that means Cairo. It is Amun's goal to assume control of that city. But for the last 75 years or so, Cairo has been under the control of another vampire based in Memphis by the name of Ek'eeb."

_How appropriate,_ I thought. I knew that Memphis was the second great city of ancient Egypt. It was the capital of the Old Kingdom and faded from prominence around 2000 BC just as Thebes was on the rise. It was located just 20 miles to the southwest of Cairo.

"Although few have actually seen him, we know that Ek'eeb has a massive force of at least 250 vampires and is very protective of his herd-lands. We are thus unable to enter Cairo."

I cringed. I could not fathom so many vampires in one place together. The ten or so I had seen in Volterra had seemed unstoppable. I felt for the people of Cairo, especially poor Aida…

"Wait a second. We were just in Cairo a few hours ago…"

"Yes, it is relatively safe during the day, as Ek'eeb's forces are hunkered down while the sun is out. I was wearing makeup and contacts to blend in, which is very inconvenient for us and I am one of the few to do so, and only on very important missions, which this was." He grinned at me winningly. "Nevertheless, it would be very unwise for me to remain in Cairo after nightfall. That is one of the reasons I was in a bit of a hurry this afternoon, although, I really do like to drive fast...

"Anyways, Amun's goal is to defeat Ek'eeb and take over Cairo without attracting the ire of the Volturi. Such a coup is more difficult than you might think, as collateral damage tends to be rather high. The concept of conquest was very popular about 150 years ago in the Americas and it reached the point where the Volturi stepped in to prevent exposure. Needless to say, it didn't end very well for the Westerners."

"Amun is approaching his campaign much more cautiously. Instead of creating vampires indiscriminately, he uses Edwin to select only those who possess unique talents that will allow a small, controlled force to quietly and efficiently take down Ek'eeb's much larger, yet untalented army. And yours truly is the jewel of that collection, his second-in-command." Benjamin grinned confidently. Apparently he couldn't resist bragging a little bit.

"Edwin was very well-rewarded when he discovered me. You have heard about the sarcophagus of Ramses III that Edwin found in 1977? That discovery occurred less than a year after I joined Amun's ranks. It was not a coincidence."

Of course. Now it all made sense. Edwin wasn't the luckiest archaeologist on the planet after all. He just happened to know somebody who had actually been present when all of these ancient treasures were being built. Amun could dangle this information over Edwin's head like a piece of meat, in return for fresh recruits. I wondered idly what talented individual Edwin had found in the last two years that had resulted in Amun divulging the location of the magnificent chamber I had seen earlier.

I looked back at Benjamin, unsure of how his particular talent was worthy of a sarcophagus.

"Okay, so you can predict the weather. That doesn't sound terribly useful in your vampire war to me," I said.

"Abilities can change as one transforms from human to immortal. In my case, I lost the ability to predict the elements, but gained the power to control them." He glanced up at the ring of palm fronds surrounding us that was still burning brightly. A fierce breeze suddenly leapt up, whipping the flames into a frenzy and pulling my hair out of its ponytail sending it flying into my face.

"I can control the winds, the clouds, water, fire, and earth," He shouted over the din. "It is a very useful offensive weapon, the most powerful in Amun's arsenal and one that should give him a huge advantage against Ek'eeb and his vampires."

"Yes, I can imagine. Your little sandstorm nearly killed me before, you know."

I had intended it as a joke, but Benjamin bowed his head and looked abashed. The wind died back down and I pushed my hair back out of my eyes. I was actually a little bit impressed, not that I was going to admit it. _I knew he was no errand boy._

"Tia, I'm really sorry about that and—"

I cut him off.

"Never you mind. So what you're telling me is that Edwin recruits teenagers and college students and then you guys just go around biting people who may be useful to you? That sounds absolutely barbaric."

"No on all counts," Benjamin said quickly. "First, either Edwin, Amun, or myself will inform them of the immortal life that awaits them and then offer them the choice to become one of us or to remain human."

He paused, looking thoughtful. "Granted, we have never had anybody who chose the latter and I'm not sure how we would proceed then. Humans aren't allowed to know of the vampire world, per the Volturi."

I was about to vocalize my whole-hearted support of the second option, but Benjamin sped on with his monologue.

"And second, we don't actually bite them anymore. When a vampire bites a human, the scent of blood can become overwhelming and he might not be able to stop feeding. Unlike normal humans who are generally expendable—come on, Tia, don't look at me like that. I'm just telling you the way it is, like you asked."

I guess I hadn't able to hide the scowl that flitted across my face. I just nodded at him to continue.

"Anyways, our uniquely talented candidates are valuable and accidents would be very unfortunate. Thus, about twenty years ago, shortly after my own transformation, we hit upon the idea of using syringes to inject our venom directly into the person's heart to avoid accidentally killing them.

"Syringes also carried a second, very positive advantage. Normally, a newborn vampire is wild and completely out of control for the first few years as the thirst for blood is so strong. He is essentially useless in battle, can be a danger to his brothers, and is a threat to expose us. However, we discovered that when one is injected rather than bitten, the newborn that awakes is more docile and can be easily trained to resist the urge to feed uncontrollably. For the first few years, we thought all of our newborns possessed an additional talent of some sort of supernatural self-control and it wasn't until later that we realized it was due to the method of transformation. We still don't know why this is the case."

He reached down and pulled his pant-leg up revealing a black leather holster Velcro-ed to his ankle. He untied it and handed it to me. Inside was a stainless steel syringe with a vicious-looking six-inch needle on one end. It looked terrifying. I shoved it back into his hands like a hot potato. I couldn't imagine anybody being willingly stabbed with such an instrument.

"So tell me, Benjamin, what is it like being a vampire? Do you ever regret your decision?" I asked, honestly interested in the answer.

Benjamin did not hesitate. "Absolutely not. You had the worst possible introduction to our world in Volterra. Those of us in Egypt are not like the Volturi. We do not have feeding frenzies, we are very selective of our victims and do not go after women or children."

"But that is your goal, is it not? By taking Cairo you will have unlimited access to victims, right? Do you really think you'll be able to resist the temptation?"

Benjamin sent me a curious look. "You know, you're very perceptive, for a human. Yes, that may be Amun's goal, but it is not mine. To tell you the truth, I hate the whole blood thing. It is perhaps that only thing that sucks about being a vampire."

I laughed inside my head. Hearing a vampire say the word "suck" greatly amused me for some reason.

"It is one thing to feed on humans when you are four thousand years old like Amun, but it is different when people you know are still alive and you have memories of your human life," he said.

"You have no idea how badly I hurt my mother when I left without so much as a goodbye. I was the last of her family, and once I was gone she had nothing left to live for. After I abandoned her, she left the developed world and retreated to the slums of Cairo where she waited to die. For the first ten or so years after I was bitten, my thirst for blood was too great to even consider approaching her and it tormented me mightily. I was terrified that she would be dead by the time I found her."

I remembered our visit to see Aida earlier. She epitomized the sweet motherly/grandmotherly type and I could understand why Benjamin was so down about leaving her.

"My desire to see my mother drove me to resist the urge to feed and by the mid 80s, I had finally gained sufficient control over my thirst to enter the human world and seek her out. You should have seen the look on her face when she opened the door…I hadn't aged a minute since the day I didn't come home from school more than 10 years earlier. I think the shock took a few more years off her life."

Benjamin scowled. "I proceeded to explain to her the world I had joined. She handled it surprisingly well, all things considered. I promised that I would spend as long as it took to make up for my running off and she accepted. So for the past twenty years or so, whenever I have business in Cairo, I make sure to stop by and take care of anything she might need.

"I am the only vampire as far as I know that maintains any connection with his former life. On the one hand, I think this has helped me to resist the thirst and maintain my humanity, but on the other, it has made it rather difficult to relate to my fellow immortals and thus I don't really have any friends, in either world."

Benjamin chuckled. "Until now, at least. You know, you're the first human I've really had a meaningful conversation with in about thirty years. It is nice."

I tried not to look too pleased by that remark.

Benjamin finished his story and leaned back, awaiting my response. Hundreds of thoughts ran through my head as I processed what he had just told me. If I had heard the same story from Amun, Aro, or another vampire of their ilk, I doubtless would have believed every word of it, and would have been scared stiff.

But if I had not seen the slaughter in Volterra or the bonfire that now burned above our heads, I would have considered the same story coming from Benjamin's lips to be preposterous and even laughable because, even now, without his contacts or make-up, he simply did not behave like a vampire. The vampires I had seen before carried themselves with an air of perfect fluidity, confidence, and a sense of hubris. But here he was, slouched down against a log glancing nervously in my direction for approval. I knew that most vampires did not look to humans for anything except the rich source of hemoglobin that they provided. He looked like a normal teenage boy telling a campfire story, not a soldier in the midst of a vampire war.

I took him seriously for sure, but I didn't feel the same emotions that I associated with other vampires. I had overcome my initial shock at his true identity surprisingly quickly once I realized I wasn't to be a midnight snack and I felt I had handled his many revelations just now with a cool head. Seeing his short hair tussled messily and his face streaked with the falling ash from the fires above, I concluded that he looked decidedly human and decidedly sexy. I felt certain emotions rising back up, emotions that were totally inappropriate given the circumstances. A part of me felt as though I was betraying Kelly, Johanna, and everybody else who had died in that throne room in Volterra by having any association with Benjamin. But another part of me felt a small bubble of happiness every time he smiled at me and called me Tia instead of Tianna. Normally, I hated it when people called me that and would usually throw a tantrum. I forbid my parents and friends back home from ever giving me nicknames. But when Benjamin called me Tia, my heartstrings were given an almighty tug. I smiled nervously in his direction, and motioned for him to come over and sit beside me.

But rather than looking relieved or happy with my acceptance of his wild story, Benjamin appeared increasingly nervous. He stood up and began pacing around, clenching and unclenching his fists.

"Is everything okay?" I asked, concerned.

Benjamin's eyes snapped to my face, and then looked abruptly away. He appeared to be carrying on some sort of internal debate with himself. Mind apparently made up, he walked over and abruptly sat down beside me.

"Tia…There's one other thing. Amun would be absolutely furious if I told you this right now…" He began somewhat ominously. "But I can't _not _tell you either…I've only known you a day, but I can _feel _like I know you better than any of the other humans I've met…And I just know you need to hear this from me now…"

I sighed in my sleepy state. This couldn't be anything good, but Benjamin really seemed to be struggling over it. "It's alright Benjamin, out with it."

His red eyes widened and he looked vaguely panicked for a moment—definitely not a trait associated with a vampire.

"Tia, do you remember how I told you that Edwin 'discovered' that sarcophagus shortly after he found me?"

I nodded, not seeing where he was going with this.

"And you saw Edwin's most recent discovery tonight...?"

"Yea, I was wondering about that. It's much more impressive than old Ramses III! Who on earth did Edwin find that netted him such a treasure?"

Benjamin chuckled darkly. "I should probably be insulted by that." He focused his eyes on me and for a moment they burned a deeper red, although it did not seem like thirst, but rather…regret.

"He found you, Tia."

I stared at Benjamin blankly. "Excuse me?"

"Two years ago, Edwin identified you as a potential talent, one of the strongest he had ever encountered. It was just a coincidence that you happened to come across other vampires before Edwin came up with some excuse to call you back to Egypt. You were too young back then to be changed but your escape from Volterra was the icing on the cake. Amun wants you to join his forces, to become a vampire."

My mind imploded and I felt only shock and horror. I had never understood Edwin's continued interest in me once it became apparent I had no talent in archaeology whatsoever. It now made perfect sense. I felt betrayed yet again, but instead of anger, I just felt terror. If they really wanted to make me a vampire, I knew there was no way I could stop them. Both Edwin and Amun knew of my so-called talent, so I very much doubted I could simply vanish, even if I somehow worked up the focus to try.

I remembered my dream shortly after I had escaped Volterra lying uncomfortably against my stolen car. I had been a vampire, about to rip Johanna's throat out in my pursuit of blood. I felt nauseous at just the memory. That would be my life as a vampire, an unstoppable killing machine. Through the fog of my mind, I could see Benjamin looking at me very concerned.

"Tia?"

"Why?" It came out as barely a whisper.

"Amun believes you would be a potent defensive weapon once your talent is manifested. He hopes that you would be able to completely cloak yourself, or even a small group, perfect for a covert mission or a hasty escape. A defensive weapon is the one thing he still lacks. The twenty vampires that we have created to date possess only offensive capabilities. It is the only reason he has yet to make any aggressive moves against Ek'eeb and Memphis."

"But you said Amun gives a choice, right? About whether we want to become one of you? I'll be able to tell him that there's not a chance in hell, right?"

Benjamin looked more distraught then ever and bowed his head. "Ordinarily, yes. But he _really _wants you, Tia. He has talked of little else since your phone-call yesterday. You should see how he sees you… I would not put it above Amun to transform you regardless of your preferences. In fact, I can practically guarantee it."

I felt hollow. There was nothing I could do. I would rather die than become a vampire. Sure, Benjamin's life sounded exciting from a story-telling perspective, but I wanted no part of such an existence. To subsist on blood, to survive by killing a thousand Kellys, a thousand Johannas, a thousand best friends…

"But Benjamin, I don't _want _to become a vampire," I whimpered. I knew I sounded pathetic and childish, but I couldn't help myself. "Help me, please."

I could see several emotions flight across his face. There was a long pause before I felt his arm on my shoulder.

"Okay, Tia. I will help get you out of Egypt. I will get you back home if I have to fly you there myself. It's not…right…to have this life forced upon you."

I didn't say anything, but wrapped both of my hands around him, hugging him tight. I nuzzled my head down into his neck, not wanting him to see the tears streaming down my cheeks. I felt him flinch, but then relax against me. His chest was rock-solid, yet comforting. I didn't know if he would be able to get me home, but I felt so thankful that I had at least one ally in this country. Vampire or not, Benjamin was proving to be a true friend.

To be continued…

Well, there you have it. These first five chapters set up the rest of the story, and now we can actually get into the heart of the tale. Please review and let me know what you think!


	6. Luxor, Part I

Disclaimer: Twilight and all of its character's are the sole property of Stephanie Meyer. No infringement is intended. She merely allows us to play in her world for a bit, for which I am grateful.

So this turned into a super-long chapter so I decided to split it into two parts. Part II is written and will be published this weekend…

Chapter 6: Luxor, Part I

Some time later, I felt myself lying on the hard ground and I drowsily cracked my eyelids open. I realized I had fallen asleep. It was still dark out, but there was a glow on the eastern horizon suggesting that sunrise was imminent. Our midnight bonfire had burned itself out, leaving a series of smoldering, blackened stumps surrounding the sandy clearing. Despite the loss, I didn't feel the typical desert morning chill. I noticed that a blanket was now covering me. Well, it wasn't a blanket per say, but rather a long piece of leather that looked suspiciously like the cloak that Benjamin had been wearing last night. Looking closer, I realized that the seams had been torn out forming a long rectangular piece of fabric that performed admirably as a make-shift blanket. I felt touched at the gesture.

Looking around for its erstwhile owner, I saw that Benjamin was nowhere to be found.

However, at that moment, I heard a loud rumbling sound, and moments later, Jeeves emerged over the hill with Benjamin at the wheel. I gasped. I remembered vividly my crash the night before and its unfortunate destruction to Jeeves--the enormous gash down the middle where I had collided with a boulder, the busted headlights, the axel knocked out of its support. While I would never say that Jeeves was an aesthetically attractive vehicle, compared to his state the night before, he now looked brand-new. The dent had been punched back out and I could barely see any damage to the frame. While the shattered glass was missing, the headlight bulbs had been returned to their sockets and the front axel had obviously been placed back into position. It must have taken the entire night to repair, with no tools and no light. However, after only 24 hours, nothing really surprised me about Benjamin anymore.

H stopped a few feet away and hopped out.

"What do you think? Good as new!"

I laughed. "Was Jeeves ever new? Nicely done though. Are you ready to go?"

He glanced to the east where the sun was ready to peak over the horizon.

"Hold on. Do you want to see something neat?"

I nodded.

"You know we avoid the sun. Do you know why?"

I shook my head.

"This is why."

In one fluid motion, he pulled his t-shirt off. At that moment, the sun peaked over the horizon, illuminating our little campsite. But my eyes were not drawn towards what was certainly a postcard-perfect sunrise, but rather towards Benjamin. His skin was literally glowing, sparkling. Every pore of his bare chest and face was emitting a tiny spire of light that together were blinding in their intensity. I could immediately understand why vampires avoided the day. The sparkles in no way made him look like Vampire Barbie or demascularized in any way, but rather they emphasized his build in a way that made him look like some sort of demi-god. I had never seen anything like it in my life.

"Wow, Benjamin," was all I could get out.

"Pretty cool, right?" He said, laughing. "I totally flipped out when I saw myself the first time. Amun had conveniently forgotten to mention that part to me. It took a while to get used to being a human floodlight and all."

"I'll bet."

I was both relieved and disappointed when he threw his t-shirt back on. The fainter shimmers on his face and along his arms were much less obvious and distracting. I did, however, notice how well that old gray t-shirt fit him and was somewhat thankful for the destruction of his bulky cloak.

Benjamin motioned towards the car and I reluctantly opened the passenger-side door and got in. It was time to get back to the real world. At once, the events of last night came flooding back into the forefront of my mind. Amun and Ek'eeb fighting for control of Cairo…Amun's plan to make me a vampire…Benjamin promising to protect me.

"So…what is the plan exactly?" I asked nervously, unsure if he had really meant his promise or had said it just to calm me down.

He started the engine and pulled a quick U-turn to head back towards field camp.

"Ok, Tia. It will not be easy. You will have to pull off an Oscar-worthy performance for this to work. Edwin and Amun cannot know I told you everything I did. Otherwise, Amun might try to change you immediately, in which case there may not be anything I can do. So, to everybody else, I told you nothing new last night. I just reiterated what they told you. You were upset and I helped calm you down, okay?"

"Sure thing, Benjamin"

"We are going to go back to camp and you are going to act as if nothing is wrong or out of the ordinary, beyond what Edwin told you last night."

"Sure thing, Benjamin."

"You realize that this means that are going to have to talk to Edwin, and possibly Amun. Civilly. Can you do that?"

I gulped. "Sure thing, Benjamin."

He laughed. "Very well. Don't worry. I promised you I will get you on a plane, and I will."

I glanced at him rather skeptically as we drove back down the wadi. "You know, you're being very very nice. Too nice. How do I know that this is not part of the plan? How do I know you're not going to drag me off to some vampire-conversion factory?"

I meant it half-jokingly, but it was something that had entered my thoughts this morning. It terrified me, not just due to the end result, but also because of how much such a betrayal would wound me.

He glanced over at me and took his foot off the gas pedal and the car came to a halt.

"What are—?"

"Do you really not trust me, Tia?" he asked in a hurt voice. Then he sighed. "I suppose that's understandable."

He had reached down and pulled up his pant leg. He un-velcroed the holster that housed the stainless-steal syringe containing vampire venom and handed it to me.

"Hold onto this for me until I get you back to Cairo. Now do you trust me?"

I held onto the thing with two fingers as I would an oil-stained rag or a moldy apple and quickly dropped it into my purse. I trusted him implicitly, but I did feel a modicum of comfort knowing that I held the syringe and the only way that he could change me.

"I do trust you. But thank you, anyways."

He just nodded and we sped off again.

"What will happen then, after I buddy back up to Edwin?"

"Well, Edwin mentioned that you said your parents weren't expecting you home from Italy for another week. I'm sure he has already talked to them and bought you the same amount of time here. I expect Amun will wait until one of your last days here before he transforms you. Based on past conversions, the process proceeds quicker and more comfortably when the person is relaxed. So I imagine that he will give you this week to calm down.

"I will make an excuse to stay in Thebes this week so I can be close by. At some point, Edwin will likely ask you to dinner or to tea. That will be your cue. Do you have a cell phone?"

I nodded. I was still carrying the pre-paid phone I had purchased in Rome inside my purse. I could probably make three or four more calls on it.

"Good. When he does invite you to dinner, give me a call and I will have some sort of exit strategy in place."

"Thank you Benjamin. I can't tell you how much…"

"Don't mention it," he said, looking over at me. "I mean it. Don't mention it. Again, remember, I am a vampire and while I've managed to calm you down after your shock last night, you are still not really a fan of my kind.

"You will want to politely aloof to both me and Amun, if you see him, as well as to Edwin, who got you into this mess to begin with. I doubt he expects you to suddenly be a pocketful of sunshine towards him."

That wouldn't be a problem, I thought, snickering. I had no desire to get cozy with either Edwin or Amun. Benjamin, on the other hand…

"As a result, you probably won't see too much of me this week," He continued and my face fell. "To everybody else, you are just another human I picked up and brought to Thebes, on Amun's orders. We can't let them think I have any special reason to come see you."

I nodded in agreement, feeling rather glum. Benjamin was now the strongest, and only, tie I still had to Egypt. Without him around, spending the week in Thebes alone sounded rather miserable. On the other hand, all of this secret agent stuff was rather thrilling. Like many young girls, I had at many points in my life dreamed of becoming an actress. Here I would get that opportunity, with my life on the line.

We turned a corner and the white rows of the camp trailers lay straight ahead.

"Tia, give me your phone. Quick."

I reached into my purse, felt around past the syringe-containing holster until my hand touched the small flip-phone at the bottom. I handed it to him and he quickly punched in his number.

"Okay, I'm going to let you out here and go into town to meet Amun and explain the 'situation.' Remember, calm, polite, and aloof. You can do this, Tia. I know it."

I stepped out of the car and Benjamin quickly sped away. Without him standing beside me, I was suddenly very nervous. I was walking into the stronghold of those who wanted to rob me of my humanity. _Deep breaths, Tianna_. _You can do this. Benjamin has faith in you._ I walked up to Edwin's trailer and confidently gave a hard rap on the door.

Moments later Edwin opened the door and his face lit into a smile upon seeing me standing there.

"Tianna! Welcome back. I'm so sorry for giving you a fright last night."

"It's okay. Benjamin talked to me last night and I'm sorry for overreacting. I know you were only trying to help. But I do need to call my parents to tell them I'm in Egypt," I said, practicing my best polite-but-aloof voice.

"Not to worry. I already called them up and told them you decided to spend a couple of days here. They have no problem with your visit, if that is okay with you."

_Well, chalk one up for Benjamin. _

"Very well then. Where will I be staying, professor?"

Edwin seemed very relieved that I was not laying into him. "I've got you a whole trailer to yourself! One of my graduate students is presenting at a conference in London this week so it's all yours! You are welcome to anything you want in her wardrobe. It is unit number 10."

That cheered me up a bit. At least I would have a place of my own in which to hide out.

"Thank you, professor." Again, polite-but-aloof.

"Okay, Tianna. You better go get settled in. I hope you do enjoy yourself this week. Please, just relax, de-stress and let me know if you need anything. You have nothing to fear in Thebes. The…um…colleague of mine you met last night will be out of town for the rest of the month."

_Liar! _I fumed. But I plastered a complacent expression on my face, nodded, and retreated back outside.

I found the trailer that Edwin had specified and stepped inside. As I expected, it was nothing special—a small kitchen, a living room, and a bedroom with a single bath. Despite the cramped quarters, I made a beeline for the bathroom and I sighed happily at the sight of a shower. I had never needed a shower in my life so much as I did right now. Not only had I been wearing the same stolen clothes for nearly 48 hours now since I left Volterra, but looking in the mirror I saw that my hair and face were smudged with sand, ash, and dust from last night's bonfire and campsite in the desert. While the dirt had made Benjamin look rugged and manly, it made me look grungy and gross. I turned on the shower head full blast and embraced the hot flow.

****

I settled into a comfortable routine over the next few days. I would sleep in until about 10 am, whip myself up some eggs and cereal in my small kitchen and then either wander around the field camp, read in my room, or surf the internet on the excruciatingly slow dial-up desktop in my living room.

My heart had skipped a few beats the first time I went online and searched the Italian newspapers. As I had been expecting with some degree of trepidation, on the front page was a breaking news story about a tragic boating accident in the Mediterranean Sea off of the coast west of Rome. My rudimentary Italian was plenty sufficient to comprehend the ghastly details.

"…_It will be some time before the cause of the accident is determined. Despite the absence of any storms in the area the past three weeks, initial reports indicate that the boat ran aground in shallow waters tearing a large hole in the hull leading to its sinking. All 48 victims appeared to have been dead for some time as the bodies were in an advanced state of decomposition and were unrecognizable. A coroner on the scene who wished to remain anonymous claimed that all of the dead had been emptied of their vital fluids, likely by the large trout populations and bottom-feeding shellfish in the coastal waters. Experts say that dental records will have to be used to determine the identities of the deceased..."_

I stopped reading. I could only imagine the heartbreaking phone call that Johanna's and Kelly's parents would be receiving in a few weeks once the identifications were made. I realized that the Volturi probably did this all the time--a boating accident in the Adriatic, a bus crash in the Alps, an apartment fire in Rome. Standard Operating Procedures. They were blood-sucking monsters, but very thorough blood-sucking monsters to be sure.

Other than that one incident, my days in Thebes were largely stress-free. I only saw Edwin once or twice a day on my walks in the desert near the field camp and I greeted him politely and tried to end our conversations as quickly as possible. Otherwise, I spent most of my time cooped up in my room.

The monotony of my day was fortunately broken on Tuesday evening, just my second night in Thebes, when received a very unexpected visitor. I had just taken another delightful shower and had stepped into the living room to find the window open and Benjamin lounging on my couch.

"Hi, Tia."

I was so surprised that I jumped about a foot into the air. Thankfully, I was fully clothed in my pajamas and a long bathrobe, although the indecent part of my brain wondered if a little showmanship would have been such a bad thing.

I ran over to him, but came to my senses and stopped short of hugging him. I didn't know how he would react to that. It had only been two days, but I had found myself already missing his presence and was delighted to see him on my sofa. He looked just as perfect as the last time I had seen him two days earlier. His hair was windswept as if he had just run a marathon, he was once again just wearing a pair of jeans and an old t-shirt, and his face was lit up in a grin as he took in my surprise.

"Benjamin! What are you doing here? I thought you said we can't be seen together."

"I was bored. Amun is in one of his moods again and left the country to go hunting, so I thought I'd stop by. No worries, I was all stealth-like and nobody saw me." He nodded over at the cracked-open window.

"Oh, okay."

"So, how have you enjoyed your first two days in Thebes?"

We chatted late into the night. After we covered my initial thoughts on being back in Thebes and my efforts to avoid Edwin, he began asking me all sorts of seemingly pointless questions, from what my school was like, to my parents' work, to my friends including, to both of our embarrassment, my current lack of a boyfriend. He seemed very surprised at this fact. I answered them all with some hesitation, sure that he was just trying to distract me and did not honestly care about the answers.

I in turn asked him all about his last thirty years of life as a vampire. While an immortal life in no way held any interest for me, I was still fascinated in hearing Benjamin's story. I learned that once he re-entered the human world, he had traveled extensively for Amun, as he was one of the few who could actually move about comfortably and covertly in the human world. My globetrotting paled in comparison to his—he had been on every continent at least twice, building relations with different covens, searching for new candidates, and testing his abilities in different environments.

He had traveled extensively throughout the United States where he studied at Dartmouth for four years in the early 90s, majoring in international relations and learning English. He had entertained the thought of trying out for the track-and-field team, but a strongly worded phone call from Amun had nixed that aspiration. Amun had no desire to risk the wrath of the Volturi simply for a laugh.

He had climbed Mount Everest in Asia three times with his best ascent timed at 95 minutes from base-camp to summit, a journey that took the best human climbers up to two months. His most recent ascent had been on May 10, 1996, best known for a blizzard and the resulting climbing disaster, the subject of the book "Into Thin Air." He told me how he had single-handedly dragged three local sherpas, who had been abandoned by the foreign guides and their clients, down the mountain to the safety of base camp. I don't know how he made such a rescue sound modest and self-effacing, but somehow he did.

In Europe, he had lived in Rome for a few years carefully studying the operations of the Volturi to better prepare strategies for a quiet takeover of Cairo. Amun was apparently still too cowed by the Volturi even 2000 years later to leave Africa and do the job himself. I had been right in my assumptions earlier since, according to Benjamin, the Volturi were experts at disposing of the remains of their victims and had not once aroused any sort of suspicion despite their frequent, violent feedings.

In South America, he had tracked a tribe of local vampires on Amun's orders, one of whom had an ability to cause blindness in an opponent. As I had unfortunately learned earlier, Amun was very desirous of those with defensive abilities and was seeking to recruit her into his coven. However, the trip had been for naught as that particular vampire had refused to leave her sisters.

He had been to Antarctica three times to study his power to control ice and snow—something he had obviously been unable to test in Egypt. He related a rather humorous story about his first visit to Hearst Island on the Weddell Sea in early 2002. Having never seen ice or snow before, he had gotten a bit carried away and had unintentionally collapsed an ice shelf the size of Rhode Island—the Larsen B ice shelf. I remembered how big that story that had been a few years back including dire predictions of global warming, sea level rise, and vanishing ice sheets when really, it had just been the accidental efforts of a teenage vampire. He looked sheepishly abashed.

"I tried to force the ice back into place after the first crack, but gravity proved stronger than me that day. I watched the whole thing fall apart over the next two weeks, which was quite a sight to behold. I really hope I haven't caused any permanent damage."

By 2 am, I had been barely able to keep my eyes open. Benjamin stood up and said he'd be back the next night, and then, instead of immediately flying out the window, rather awkwardly threw his arms around me and gave me a quick hug. He whispered "goodnight, Tia" inches from my ear and I could feel his breath on the side of my face. When I opened my eyes, he was gone.

I stood in the center of the small living room with what was probably a very silly smile on my face. I could feel goosebumps where his arms had touched me. I had never before felt such a reaction from just a hug. I went into the bedroom and quickly fell asleep with all sorts of amazing thoughts flowing through my head.

****

And so it went every night that week. I would mope around during the day, trying to avoid Edwin while still spending some time outside. Each evening, Benjamin would sneak into my trailer and I would try not to look too excited. We would then talk for hours before I finally fell asleep.

He had a nearly infinite number of stories about all the exotic places he had visited and the adventures he had had in each and I felt completely silly sharing any part of my own life. However, he seemed unconcerned about the fact I had yet to scale a five mile summit, outrun the Italian police on foot, or literally jog across a country as he had. He asked me repeatedly about me friends, what I did for fun, what I liked about my family, and a series of other random questions. I told him of my parents, my life in Washington, my rather spoiled upbringing and many socialite friends. I tried not to come across as the little rich girl from America, but I found I could not lie to Benjamin when his deep, crimson eyes were so focused on mine, and I am sure he understood how different we were. However, never once did he judge me. While I had no trouble talking about myself, I at first he thought he was just humoring me, listening to my prattle.

But by the end of the week, I felt that I understood him quite well. Friendship and human interaction was the thing he missed the most about his early life. Even in his teenage years as a human, he had made few friends due to war and the deaths of his brothers. And now his relationships with his fellow vampires were for convenience aimed at accomplishing a military objective, rather than for companionship. His only contact in the human world was with his mother, which was a relationship completely distinct from friendship.

I couldn't relate since I had never really felt lonely in my life. As an only child, I was constantly doted upon by my mom and dad. And thanks to their wealth and my electric personality (which, of course, I had learned had less to do with me and more to do with some latent talent), I had all the friends I could ever want, and then some. I was a people-person in every manner of the phrase and quickly became stir-crazy on my own.

However, I could easily understand Benjamin's sense of isolation. When you are on your own, the mind becomes a very lonely place. No manner of adventures or globe-trotting can make up for the one element that is missing in your life: the human element. I knew that people are by nature a social species and that Benjamin still retained too much of his humanity to be immune to this need. Nevertheless, he felt like an outcast in both worlds. He was too anchored to the human world through his mother to relate to his fellow vampires' craving for blood and cold-blooded murder, yet, in the end, he was still a vampire with all of the urges of that species and could never again be a member of human society.

I felt sympathy welling up in me. To my eyes, Benjamin was perfect in nearly every way. Not only was he the most gorgeous young man I had ever met with his chiseled face, sculpted chest, and brilliant smile, but he was also kind, compassionate, and funny, most unlike any of the vampires I had met to this point. Despite his loneliness, he was perpetually cheerful and accepted his lot in life with no regrets, embracing what he had and making it work. This was infinitely admirable to me, and it made me like him all the more.

****

While I looked forward to the evenings when Benjamin would sneak in, I became increasingly nervous with each passing day. It was now Friday, only two days before I was to fly back home. I was terrified that if I stayed outside for any period of time I would run into Amun or Edwin and be offered an invitation to "tea." So I stayed cloistered inside the entire day like a caged animal puttering around my increasingly claustrophobic trailer. I tried to take a nap, but I had too much nervous energy to sleep. The computer had crashed the day before, so I couldn't entertain myself online either. I had nothing to pack, so I instead spent my time tidying up the trailer for its owner's return.

At about 5pm that afternoon, I heard a knock on the door and my heart skipped a beat.

Upon opening the door, I saw Edwin standing there, but, to my delight, Benjamin standing beside him. Benjamin was smiling subtlely out of the side out of the side of his mouth, so I felt confident that nothing was wrong and my heart slowed back down.

"Hello, professor," I greeted.

"Good evening, Tianna. I didn't see you today and thought you might want to go into the city for the evening. So I asked Benjamin here to take you into Luxor for dinner. Does that sound good?"

From behind Edwin's back, Benjamin was smirking at me, but, being the actress that I was, I held back my smile. Dinner with Benjamin sounded delightful.

"Okay, Professor. That sounds good to me." I was getting very good at polite-yet-aloof. I hoped Benjamin was impressed with my skills.

"Excellent! Well, you two enjoy yourselves and I will hopefully see your tomorrow, Tianna."

Edwin turned and headed back towards his trailer.

"Hi Tia!" Benjamin greeted enthusiastically after Edwin had moved out of earshot. He quickly gave me a small hug, which I returned. He had become less reticent for physical contact over the week, for which I was grateful. There was nothing I liked more than a Benjamin-hug, I thought, laughing in my mind. I suspected that over the course of the week he had become resistant to the scent of my blood, or whatever it was that made vampires so dangerous around humans.

"Imagine my surprise when Edwin called me up and asked me to take you to dinner! I think he's trying to slowly ease you into vampiric company or something, not that I'm complaining or anything."

I smiled. "I haven't been into Luxor at all this week. Dinner sounds terrific."

We walked over to the small parking lot and instead of stopping at Jeeves, who looked his usual decrepit self, Benjamin continued to where a bright red Ferrari was parked, where it had been since we arrived.

"I thought we'd travel in a bit more style tonight," he said, grinning.

"Benjamin, isn't that Amun's car?"

His smile widened. "Yes, but what Amun doesn't know can't hurt him, right?"

I laughed. This would mark the third time this week that I had participated in some sort of auto theft, after the yellow Porsche in Volterra and Benjamin's own Jeeves in my aborted escape attempt the night I first arrived.

He opened the door and reached under the dashboard extracting a silver set of keys. But instead of hopping in and gunning the engine, he tossed them in my direction.

"Would you care to do the honors?"

"You want _me _to drive?"

"You gave Jeeves quite a run for his money the last time you drove. I want to see what you can do with a real car," he said, looking towards Jeeves and mentally apologizing for his last comment.

"Would you believe that was only the second time I had been behind the wheel? I learned to drive in Italy."

Benjamin's eyebrows shot upwards and embedded themselves in his forehead. He looked at me, very impressed. I blushed a little. "Well, all the more reason for you to practice, then," he said, recovering.

I pulled myself into the driver's seat and was pleased to find that I recognized nearly everything. It was hard to believe that just one week ago, I was just dead weight to be chauffeured around and now here I was, driving a 400 hp Ferarri. My guy friends were going to flip out when I got back home.

The sheer power of the car rumbling beneath me was both unnerving and thrilling at the same time. Even the slightest tap on the gas pedal sent us flying. Minutes later, we were on the road heading back towards Luxor.

To Be Continued…


	7. Luxor, Part II

Disclaimer: Twilight and all of its character's are the sole property of Stephanie Meyer. No infringement is intended. She merely allows us to play in her world for a bit, for which I am grateful.

Chapter 7: Luxor, Part II

After only five minutes of driving, we had crossed a bridge to the east bank of the Nile River and I slowed down to speed more fitting for the crowded urban setting. It was about 5 pm on Friday afternoon so there was perhaps another hour of daylight left. Thus, most of the shops in the tourist district through which we were driving were still open for business. Large groups of pale, sun-starved Europeans or Americans were excitedly haggling with the local street vendors over trinkets, faux pottery, or pewter models of the Pyramids of Giza and the Temple of Karnak, thinking they were all experts in the art of bargaining. Having been in a similar position myself during my last visit, I now knew that unless you were essentially given the item for free, you were being ripped off. Most of these articles were actually produced across the Indian Ocean in sweatshops in Indonesia, Bangladesh, or India. Even in the third world, the axiom "you get what you pay for" holds true and I knew that true collectors only visited the certified Bazaars in Cairo to find quality Egyptian merchandise.

The crowds meant it was a rather tight fit entering the downtown area of Luxor. Lining the narrow streets were large, air-conditioned busses which would soon take their clutch of tourists back to the high-class hotels in the north of Luxor in preparation for an assault on a different Egyptian city the following day. Apparently, all of the haggling and bargaining were not holding their attention that well after all since the sudden arrival of Amun's flashy red Ferarri was sufficient to immediately draw most of the gazes. I saw a few camera lenses pointing our way and imagined I would hear male jaws hitting the ground were the engine not so loud. The car handled like a dream which allowed me to carefully weave in and out of the mass of humanity and busses despite my meager skills behind the wheel. I was particularly careful not to even tap anything since the thought of Amun angry at me for denting his car terrified me beyond belief. As it was, I was thankful that I had not seen him once the entire week.

"Benjamin, where is Amun? Do you think he will mind we swiped his car?" I asked, voicing my thoughts.

"Nah, he's fine with it. I borrow it all the time when I don't need Jeeves for the stealthy look. He's hunting with Kebi right now. That's his mate, or wife, I guess."

"Vampires can…marry?" That just sounded weird to me.

Benjamin looked at me strangely. "Of course. Well, we can't have children since our bodies never change in that way, but I assure you that we feel emotions just as strongly as you do. And that is all marriage really is, after all."

I guess that made sense.

"Oh, okay. So where are we going?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Just this place I know. Turn right at the next intersection onto Sacriya Boulevard and I'll direct you."

I did as he instructed and we thankfully moved out of the congested shopping district and headed towards the banks of the Nile. Soon we were passing The Temple of Karnak on our left and entering the oldest part of Luxor. I followed Benjamin's directions and moments later pulled up in front of a familiar establishment on the riverfront.

"Oh, I love this place!"

"You've been here before?" Benjamin asked, surprised.

I nodded vigorously, and then blushed slightly. _Al-Salem._ It was a classy authentic Egyptian restaurant that catered primarily to those visiting the city.I had eaten there many times during my previous stay in Egypt, due mostly to the presence of a young waiter. His name was Naseer and he was drop-down gorgeous with long, wavy black hair, a powerful, yet lean build, and the deepest hazel eyes I had ever seen. He was the son of the restaurant's owner, which meant that he really had no business waiting tables. Yet he had waited on mine every time I had dined there and I was not so dim as to think this was an accident.

Naseer was 19 at the time, three years older than me, and for a girl who had just begun to look at boys _that _way and had normal teenage self-esteem issues, such attention was a big confidence booster. I had also broken up with my first real boyfriend the week before I left the States and was eager to get back in the game, as it was. So we usually flirted throughout the meal and he would sometimes leave small trinkets at the table after he had cleaned up. These were not cheap knock-offs from the aforementioned street vendors, but likely something his well-off father had purchased in Cairo.

In the end, however, I suppose that I took the whole thing much less seriously than he did and nothing ever came of it. I considered flirting to be a full-contact sport, a verbal repartee and a right of passage in any relationship. With Naseer, said contest was like Michael Jordan taking on a first grader, where I was MJ. All of the witty remarks came from my side of the field while he would just smile, flex something, or make some sort of off-color joke, believing that qualified as flirting. It was enough to initially captivate a naïve 16-year old, but by the end of my stay, I had begun to see the rather uninteresting forest in spite of the decidedly attractive trees. You could only sugarcoat boredom with a sexy smile and luscious hair for so long. Before I left, he had given me his number and asked that I call him, but I had yet to do so and had scarcely thought about him except in my most rebellious moods. I imagined he still worked here and if I saw him, I hoped he wasn't too angry at me for not calling him up.

Of course, the food at Al-Salem wasn't bad either, but I'm sure there were better places in Luxor. It was one of those restaurants where they made the meal in front of you and each table had its own small grill, visibly enhancing its claims of exotic Egyptian cuisine. The upstairs deck was completely open-air and was situated mere feet from the Nile. I could have flicked an olive from a salad over the edge and down into the water if I had desired. In the evening, as the sun dropped below the sandy hills to the west and shimmered golden light off the glassy water, there was no more beautiful place on the entire planet in my mind. Benjamin had good taste.

We walked inside and I requested a table on the upper deck and we were promptly led up the stairs. It was a perfect spring evening and the temperature was comfortable as the day's warmth was slow to fade. I looked out over the Nile where the last few fishing boats were straggling to the shore with the day's catch and a lone felucca was sailing slowly north on a cruise downriver as the sun hung low in the western sky. It was beautiful. I was dragged out of my naturalistic reverie by a familiar voice.

"Tianna Sabbat! I heard in the kitchen that you are back!"

I almost laughed. Naseer stood in front of me. He looked good, a year or two older, a bit more mature, but he still had the same winning smile. Apparently I was forgiven for ignoring him the past two years.

"Hi Naseer. I'm just visiting for spring break."

I don't know if he even heard my response. He had noticed Benjamin and was glaring at him something fierce. I realized I realized I should probably make introductions.

"Naseer, this is Benjamin. He works with Professor Worthington. Benjamin, this is Naseer. We're friends, from last time I was here."

Benjamin politely offered his hand, but Naseer continued to glare at him and made no move to shake his hand. Benjamin looked over at me curiously, but I just shrugged.

Naseer seemed to look him up and down, sizing him up.

"You know, colored contacts went out of fashion years ago. Especially red. Just for your information."

"Oh, I never followed the crowd," Benjamin replied airily. "In fact, I've been told they look rather intimidating."

He sat up, straightening his broad shoulders and fixed an intense gaze on Naseer, who involuntarily took a step back. I had become so accustomed to Benjamin's eyes over the past week that I had completely forgotten he usually didn't move about in public without some sort of disguise.

Naseer laughed nervously and quickly set the table with a pair of diner plates, a full complement of silverware, and poured us each a glass of ice water.

"I'll be right back to take your order. It is good to see you again, Tianna."

Naseer turned and retreated to the kitchen.

"What's with that guy?" Benjamin asked as soon as Naseer was out of earshot.

I shrugged. "I dunno. We talked a bunch when I as here last time."

Benjamin narrowed his eyes at the steps leading down to the kitchen. "Sounds like he wants to do a bit more than talk to you. At least, that's what he's telling his buddies downstairs in the kitchen right now…"

"How do you know what they're—?" Oh, right. Vampire senses.

He didn't reply and was staring intently at the stairs, listening. Apparently, something was not to his taste because his lips curled back exposing his shiny white teeth and he abruptly stood up.

"Are you kidding? What a pig! Seriously, Tia. This guy is a tool…"

I didn't have a chance to say anything, because Naseer chose that moment to saunter back up the stairs carrying a pen and paper. Benjamin glared at him, making Naseer stop in his tracks before walking a bit more hesitantly over to us. Perhaps he was a bit more intimidated by Benjamin's crimson irises than he had let on.

"So, what would you like, Tianna? Lambchops and green peppers?" He asked, smiling winningly at me. He remembered my favorites. Good memory.

I nodded. "That sounds lovely."

He turned to Benjamin.

"And you?" he asked, much less politely.

"Hmmmm, I think I'll go for that nice _rack _of lamb_,_" he said theatrically.

Naseer blanched, and his eyes widened, but he coolly replied, "That is one of our most expensive meals, sir. Are you sure that is in your price range?"

"Yes, you may be right. It could _tap_ my wallet a bit too _hard."_ Naseer was looking at him furiously, while Benjamin was lounging smugly back in his seat.

I understood what was going on now. On the one hand, I was pissed at Naseer if he really said what Benjamin was insinuating he had said. On the other hand, I didn't really like the over-protective brotherly crap that Benjamin was pulling right now either.

"Your order, sir?"

"You know what? I'm tired of looking at every meal as just another piece of meat. So just a garden salad for me. But hold the dressing and keep your other…_condiments…_to yourself"

"Very well. I will be back with your meal in a minute," He said, winking at me.

I glared over at Benjamin, but he looked decided unapologetic. _Boys, _I hrumphed. _Everything is a testosterone contest._

I crossed my arms and said nothing but instead focused my attention idly on the river and watched the same felucca I had seen before. It hadn't made much progress at all in the calm conditions and was drifting aimlessly below us on the glassy river. Moments later Naseer emerged from the kitchen carrying a collection of vegetables, several slabs of raw meat, and a bag of charcoal briquettes. This was one of the novelties of _Al-Salem._ They made their own charcoal that was prepared according to some ancient formula that the restaurant claimed added a unique flavor to its food.

He dumped the briquettes onto the grill, and from there, things started to go down hill. Every time he tried to ignite the briquettes with his little butane lighter, a gust of wind would rise up from the otherwise calm evening extinguishing the flame. I noticed that none of the chefs at the other tables were having any difficulties. By the fourth or fifth try, I was beginning to get suspicious and glanced over at Benjamin whose pursed lips and downturned eyes looked far too innocent. I kicked his foot under the table and glared at him, sending a look that said _Stop messing with the weather, please. _

He sent me a look back that said _But the guy is a jerk! He deserves it!_

I struggled not to laugh at his self-righteous expression. Our silent conversation had apparently distracted Benjamin enough so that Naseer was finally able to light the briquettes. But, as soon as he did so, yet another gust of wind sent the nascent flames blowing back onto his fingers, which he drew sharply away, cursing. Then the flame went out again.

"Perhaps it's just not a good night to grill outside, mate," Benjamin said with thinly-veiled sarcasm. I choked back a giggle.

"Nonsense. I'll be right back, Tianna," He said, not looking at Benjamin.

I waited until Naseer left, before rounding on Benjamin.

"Would you like to explain what that was all about?" I asked in what I hoped was an angry, irritated voice.

"Tia, that guy is a creep! He is talking about you in there like you were a piece of meat!"

"What did he say exactly?"  
Benjamin's eyes widened and he glanced at the ground. "Well, I'd rather not say…but…you wouldn't like it…"

I sighed. I wasn't too terribly surprised. I had never gotten the impression that Naseer was really interested in me as a person so much as, to use Benjamin's phrasing, a particularly tasty piece of meat. This wasn't an issue before, because any attraction I might have felt towards him was along the same lines. Now, however, I was going to trust Benjamin's judgment on this one.

Further soul-searching was put on hold because at that moment Naseer returned…carrying a can of gasoline. Uh-oh.

"You've got to be kidding me," I muttered. I turned towards Benjamin.

"Don't you dare try anything," I whispered.

He leaned back in his seat, looking very pleased. "Don't worry. I won't have to. This should be amusing."

Naseer swaggered towards us like the veteran pyro I was sure he was not.

"Naseer, I really don't think that is a good idea…" I began.

"Nonsense, Tianna. The briquettes are just too old to light. This will help them along." He proceeded to empty about half of the gallon-sized can onto the charcoal. Benjamin sighed quietly beside me.

Naseer jabbed the lighter into the briquettes and flicked the switch. Immediately, a fireball erupted up five feet into the air with a loud whoosh. A strong gust of wind blew the flames away from where Benjamin and I were sitting, but Naseer wasn't so lucky. Once the flames died down, I saw that his eyebrows were singed off and his face was covered in ash. He coughed, exhaling a large quantity of smoke and dust. The other diners on the deck looked over at us and, once they saw everybody was okay, I heard a few snickers.

"A little too much gas there, you reckon?" laughed Benjamin, in an atrocious hillbilly accent.

I kicked him in the shins from beneath the table, but the corners of my mouth were upturned.

Naseer looked dazed. "Umm, well, I'll just go have them prepare things in the kitchen, shall I?"

He hobbled off, smelling of singed hair and gasoline. I sighed.

"I'm sorry, Tia. But trust me, he deserved it. And anybody stupid enough to douse twenty pounds of charcoal with a gallon of gasoline…"

"You know what, I'm not even really that hungry. Do you just want to go and wander around town?"

Benjamin nodded and we quickly retreated downstairs and back out into the twilight. I headed back to the car, but Benjamin lightly grabbed my hand and pointed north, parallel to the river. I looked where he was pointing, but all I could see was the Temple of Karnak in front of us.

"Umm, Benjamin, it's almost dark. I'm pretty sure Karnak is closed for visitors now," I said, stating the obvious.

He just laughed. "Remember, my boss helped build the place. He says it's always open and I'll take his word for it. Besides, this is the best time of day to visit. Let's go!"

He took my hand, but instead of pulling me towards the temple, he flipped me up into the air and I landed on his back. Before I had a chance to protest, we were flying forward. We ran at an impossible speed. I could scarcely see Benjamin's legs pumping, yet the riverfront flew by at such a speed that I was unable to recognize any of the buildings. My long hair whipped behind me and I felt my eyes watering, but I refused to shut them so thrilling was the ride. We covered the half-mile or so to Karnak in under a minute.

As I expected, the area outside the entrance to the temple was empty and very much closed. This didn't seem to bother Benjamin who, barely breaking his stride, sheepishly looked around before turning to me and saying, "hold on!" He bent his knees and jumped, sending us airborne. I didn't even have a chance to scream in surprise before we had landed atop the ancient structure.

In ancient times, the Great Hypostyle Hall of the Temple of Karnak was composed of 134 massive limestone columns that supported a stone roof, much like the Parthenon in Athens or the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. 2000 years later, most of the roof had collapsed leaving only scattered blocks from the original roof still being supported. It was atop one of these that we landed, perhaps 90 feet above the level of the Nile.

Benjamin carefully lowered me onto the block which had been eroded to the point where it was bowl-shaped, allowing me to comfortably sit down.

"I love this place," Benjamin said, sitting down beside me. "I come here to think sometimes."

I doubted anybody had enjoyed such a view of the Nile River and the surrounding desert since Karnak itself was constructed. The sun appeared nearly level with the water on the western horizon and the entire surface of the river was glowing orange like a river of fire. It was a magical scene. Despite its age, Karnak remained the tallest structure in Luxor and here I was, standing at its highest point looking out over the city and beyond. I felt like the queen of the world in that moment. Facing west, I could easily see the wide expanse of sandy desert all the way to where it merged with the horizon. Squinting into the setting sun I could even make out the distant ridges of the Jilf Al-Kabir plateau that dominated western Egypt. In ancient times, this was a desolate and forbidden land crossed only at great risk by traders traveling from the Kingdoms of Ghana and Mali to the southwest. Little had changed in 2000 years, with only scattered settlements huddled around the occasional oasis all the way to the border with Libya and Sudan. Over 90% of Egypt's population was located within five miles of the river.

Looking down the Nile, I could follow the river northward to where it suddenly made a buttonhook back to the west, creating a small crescent of fertile land around Thebes and Luxor. The poor Felucca I had seen from Al-Salem was still making excruciatingly slow progress northward under calm conditions and was only a few hundred yards north of us.

"You know, that boat down there hasn't gone a mile since we arrived at Al-Salem," I began, for lack of anything else better to say.

"Yea, there's never much wind at night," Benjamin said, awkwardly. He then smiled.

A fresh breeze stirred up around us moving quickly northward. I could see the glassy water shatter as ripples spread out. The breeze reached the felucca and its sails immediately billowed. I heard a muffled cheer from on board as the craft began to move forward.

I looked down to see Benjamin looking at me, studying my face. "Pretty spectacular, isn't it? I love ships with sails, using nature as their only means of travel, even if nature doesn't always cooperate. I can probably keep them going for a few hours till the wind picks up, if I keep my focus. It's good practice for me."

I watched as the crew on board rushed to let out more sails in order to take advantage of the sudden breeze. I envied those on board for a moment, but quickly came to the conclusion I had by far the best seat in the house.

"I have been around the world, but nothing can compare to a sunset on the Nile," he continued. "They say that the desert is a cruel and dead land, but how can you look around you now and not see this as the most beautiful country on the planet?"

I agreed wholeheartedly. I was somewhat shaken to realize that this would be one of the last sunsets that I would ever see in Egypt. If Edwin and Amun did indeed have nefarious plans for me, I would be leaving suddenly either tomorrow or Sunday morning. If Benjamin was wrong, I would still be departing Sunday afternoon to arrive home in time for classes to resume. Regardless, I knew this would be the last time I would ever visit the country. Despite my love of this land, the knowledge that it was populated by a powerful coven of vampires out to seize control of its largest city ensured that I would not return. Witnessing the majestic panorama surrounding me, I felt extremely depressed and angry towards the vampires, save Benjamin, who were forcing my hand. This entire trip, since that fateful morning in Milan, had been a rollercoaster ride of emotions, but now I just felt a sense of regret.

"I'm going to miss Egypt so much. This is my home, I can feel it." I said. "It's like I'm being exiled from my own country."

Benjamin looked sadly over at me. "I'm really going to miss you, Tia. This week…it's been like…having an actual friend."

I smiled brightly at him. Hearing him say something like that tugged at my heartstrings. I put my arm around his neck and pulled myself over to hug him.

"You should come to visit America…often." I said, my voice muffled against the cleft of his shoulder.

He tightened his grip on my neck and I felt his soft breaths on my cheek. Moments passed and then I suddenly sensed him move closer and I felt his lips come into contact with the skin of my cheek. I stopped breathing. His lips were freezing cold, like nothing I had ever felt before. What felt like an eternity probably only lasted a second because as quickly as he had reached in, he pulled his head back, looking nervous and apologetic.

"I'm sorry, Tia. I shouldn't have done that. I've never actually kissed anybody before and I thought…"

I smiled at him and pushed him back against the stone block. I rolled myself over so that I was on top of him, straddling his waist. My long hair hung down hiding our faces in a shroud of black. I leaned forward until my lips just brushed against his. He stiffened momentarily before relaxing.

Never before had I kissed somebody with less experience than myself. Back home, I was rather selective with the boys I went out with long enough to get to the kissing stage and, let's just say, I didn't date the D&D-playing crowd. My boyfriends had always been older and usually took charge in the relationship. Now, ironically, with perhaps the strongest individual in the country lying beneath me, I felt more powerful than ever before and for once in my life, I wanted to take control.

Not only had I known him for under a week, but he was a vampire, whose kin had destroyed fifty innocent people before my eyes and whose boss wanted to turn me into one as well. Nevertheless, I was inescapably drawn to him. His eyes were inches from mine, but were wide open. His red pupils burned fiercely with need, not the same overwhelming thirst that I had seen in Heidi's eyes back in Volterra, but rather with desire. I felt empowered, knowing that I could bring about such a reaction in this perfect creature.

I leaned down, deepening the kiss and he responded in kind. It was comparatively chaste, by no means like some of the scandalous make-out sessions I had partaken in back home. It was sloppy and fumbling, yet at the same time, it was the most intense and passionate experience of my life. I knew that he could break me so easily and that the temptation of my blood must have been overpowering, yet he was perfectly gentle against my lips. The world fell away and I grew a bit dizzy. My entire concentration was focused on the pleasure of feeling his lips moving against mine.

From where I was laying, I noticed out the corner of my eye that the surface of the Nile had turned to glass and that the sails of the Felucca had deflated, stranding her once again. _It looks like somebody can't multitask. _I laughed happily to myself and my attention returned to Benjamin.

My body melded perfectly against his, and everywhere we touched, I felt chills. His hands wrapped around my back, pressing my lips harder against his. A small purr escaped from my mouth as he gently stroked the small of my back. I closed my eyes as a shiver went down my spine. I moved my lips away from his and began kissing his jawbone and slowly made my way down to his neck. His skin was freezing cold. I heard Benjamin suck in short breaths as I experimented with planting kisses in different spots along his neck, while I stroked the other side of his face with my hand.

To my disappointment, he was the first to break the kiss, pushing me gently upward and sliding himself into a seated position. For an immortal vampire, he certainly looked flushed. His short black hair was tussled and untidy plastered against his forehead. Despite not technically needing to breath, his chest rose and fell rapidly as if he was out of breath. His eyes were burning a more intense crimson than I had ever seen before.

"Tia, I'm sorry… I could have--"

I reached over and covered his mouth with my hand. "Shhh, I want to watch the sun set."

I was being terribly obvious, but I didn't want him to ruin this moment for me with any apologies or regrets. Besides, my excuse was actually a good one.

The sun was just ready to move below the horizon. We both turned and sat comfortably ninety-feet in the air atop Karnak and watched as the long day finally ended. As the sun slipped below the horizon, its last golden rays were suddenly accented by a brilliant green burst of light that illuminated the entire western sky. I had never seen a Green Flash before, but knew that it was a phenomenon that had something to do with the earth's lower atmosphere refracting light at a lesser wavelength due to the low sun angle. However, no scientific definition could do it justice. The contrast of bright green against the dying orange of the sun was breathtaking as the two colors battled for control of the dim western sky. As the green light faded, the desert landscape was plunged into darkness with only the lights from Luxor behind us providing illumination.

"I guess we should head back," Benjamin said from beside me.

I nodded. He stood and carefully picked me up before leaping off the temple roof. My mind was still spinning so that this didn't even bother me. Nonetheless, we landed gently and silently on the ground.

"Would you like to just walk back? It's so nice out tonight. I can get the car later," Benjamin asked.

I nodded.

We set off up the road. It was a mild desert evening and with no humidity our brisk pace was very refreshing. A few minutes into the hike, I felt his hand reach for mine. I took it, smiling softly. We walked for the next hour or so hand-in-hand but in silence, just enjoying one another's company. Once we left behind Luxor-proper and its city lights, the waxing gibbon moon above provided our light as we walked along the sandy roadside. Too soon we were back at camp and in front of my trailer.

"Goodnight, Tia," he said softly, releasing my hand.

"Thanks for a fun evening, Benjamin," I said. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

He nodded.

I turned to head inside, but felt his arms wrap around me into a hug. I returned the embrace and smiled into his shoulder. I felt him place a light kiss on the very top of my head before letting go and flying into the darkness.

I turned and shakily opened my door. I didn't even bother to change into my bedtime clothes and just threw myself onto my bed. I was enthralled and tortured at the same time. The evening, heck, even the entire week, had been magical. Never before had I felt such a connection with any land, nor with any person. Yet I knew what I had to do, what was the wisest course of action. I must return home, to my parents, to my friends, to all that was familiar and comfortable, to a land without vampires, without a constant fear of being turned into a blood thirsty monster. My mind had been made up the moment I saw Amun and learned of Edwin's betrayal. No force on this planet, even the potent combination of Benjamin and my father's homeland, could convince me to risk becoming a vampire. Benjamin might set an admirable standard for his kin, but I had seen enough vampires to know that he was a unique exception, not the rule. I twisted beneath my blankets and punched my pillow in frustration. Despite my conviction, I could not excise that small part of me that begged to stay and let God do with my fate what He will.

****

I slept late the following morning, not waking until after noon. I took my time taking a hot shower and then preparing a delicious breakfast of eggs and bacon. Looking out the window, I saw that it was a beautiful afternoon, with only a few puffy clouds gliding across the sky. I decided to get some fresh air.

I headed outside and hiked up into the narrow wadi at the head of the camp. I had been walking for perhaps ten minutes when I reached the new excavation site that I had seen earlier in the week. As I moved to walk past the entrance, Edwin emerged from the structure and waved at me.

"'Afternoon, Tianna! How was dinner last night?"

"Very good, professor. Thank you," I said, not bothering to explain what words could never do justice.

"Excellent. Actually, I wanted to ask you something. I know this great little tea parlor downtown and was wondering if you would care to join me this evening, since you will be leaving us tomorrow?"

I froze. This was it.

"That, um, sounds lovely, professor," I mumbled.

"Excellent, Tianna. I shall look forward to it. Should we say 5 o'clock?"

I nodded. He turned and headed back inside the excavation. I immediately began running, back down the wadi and to my trailer. Even though I had anticipated this moment the entire week, the fact that it was here hit me like a bombshell. In my mind, I had half-convinced myself that Benjamin was just being paranoid and that there was no danger at all.

But now I knew the danger was very real indeed and I was terrified. What if Benjamin couldn't save me? What if Amun knew of our plan? I fumbled in my pockets for my key and it took several tries to open the door since my hands were shaking so badly. I scrambled around for my purse and pulled out the pre-paid cell phone I had purchased in Rome. I found where Benjamin had entered a number and dialed.

Moments later, he picked up. "Tia?"

"Benjamin, Edwin just invited me to dinner…tonight. He wants me to meet him at 5pm."

My voice sounded hoarse and rough.

"Okay, Tia. Stay in your room. I'm on my way. I will be there in half an hour. Whatever you do, don't leave the camp. Stall, do whatever is necessary."

I heard an engine roaring and tires screeching before he terminated the connection. I threw the phone on my bed and sat down and waited.

To Be Continued…

Thank you for reading! Please review and let me know what you think… The next chapter is a big one…


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